US Monitoring Russian Ship Operating In International Waters Near Hawaii

Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times,

The United States Coast Guard is tracking a Russian military ship that was detected in international waters near Oahu, Hawaii, at the end of October, the agency announced in a statement on Thursday.

The military branch said that, on Oct. 29, it detected the Russian vessel approximately 15 miles south of Oahu.

The Coast Guard said an HC-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Barbers Point and the Coast Guard Cutter William Hart “responded to the Russian Federation Navy Auxiliary General Intelligence ship Kareliya.”

“Acting in accordance with international law, Coast Guard personnel are monitoring the Russian vessel’s activities near U.S. territorial waters to provide maritime security for U.S. vessels operating in the area and to support U.S. homeland defense efforts,” the Coast Guard said.

“The U.S. Coast Guard routinely monitors maritime activity around the Hawaiian Islands and throughout the Pacific to ensure the safety and security of U.S. waters,” Capt. Matthew Chong, chief of response for Coast Guard Oceania District, said in the statement. “Working in concert with partners and allies, our crews monitor and respond to foreign military vessel activity near our territorial waters to protect our maritime borders and defend our sovereign interests.”

In the statement, the Coast Guard noted that international law permits foreign military vessels to “transit and operate outside other nations’ territorial seas, which extend up to 12 nautical miles from shore.”

The disclosure comes as tensions between the United States and Russia have grown in recent weeks as President Donald Trump has soured on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has sought an end to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though progress on that front has been slow—a situation Trump has attributed to Putin’s intransigence on moving forward with a deal.

It also comes amid signs of an escalating arms race between the United States and its adversaries.

The Coast Guard’s first detection of the vessel on Oct. 29 came just two days after Russia announced that it had tested a nuclear-powered missile, the Burevestnik cruise missile, which Moscow has claimed possesses unlimited range and the ability to evade existing missile defenses.

Russia’s nuclear test was followed the next day by a successful cruise missile test by North Korea, conducted by the hermit communist state just hours before Trump, then on a circuit of east Asia, was due to set out for a summit in South Korea.

Following these two incidents, Trump on Oct. 29 directed the Pentagon to begin nuclear weapons testing again.

Since then, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has clarified that these tests will involve particular components of nuclear weapons, but will not involve nuclear detonations.