Coast Guard monitoring suspected Russian intelligence vessel off Hawaiian coast
Mike Brest
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The U.S. Coast Guard is tracking a vessel it suspects to be a Russian intelligence-gathering spy off the coast of the Hawaiian islands amid tensions over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Foreign military vessels are permitted to transit freely through the U.S. exclusive economic zone, though foreign-flagged military vessels have often been observed in the Coast Guard District 14’s area of response.
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“The U.S. Coast Guard is currently monitoring the Russian vessel operating in the vicinity of Hawaii,” said Cmdr. Dave Milne, chief of External Affairs. “As part of our daily operations, we track all vessels in the Pacific area through surface and air assets and joint agency capabilities. The Coast Guard operates in accordance with international laws of the sea to ensure all nations can do the same without fear or contest. This is especially critical to secure freedom of movement and navigation throughout the Blue Pacific.”
The Coast Guard is coordinating with the Department of Defense while its partners are “providing updates to foreign vessel movements and activities and to appropriately meet presence with presence to encourage international maritime norms,” the Coast Guard’s press release said.
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The U.S. and Russian relationship has continued to deteriorate, as has Russia’s standing globally, throughout the almost 11-month-long war in Ukraine. Russian forces invaded last February, hoping to capture Kyiv quickly, take territory, and fracture the West and NATO, though they failed to accomplish essentially all of those objectives, but thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed and millions displaced.