On Monday, the United States Coast Guard said that it was tracking several Russian naval vessels that crossed into U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska.
According to the Coast Guard, the vessels, which included two submarines, crossed into U.S. water in an effort to avoid sea ice, something that is permitted under international rules and customs, a news release shared.
“We are actively patrolling our maritime border in the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea, with our largest and most capable cutters and aircraft, to protect U.S. sovereign interests, U.S. fish stocks, and to promote international maritime norms,” Rear Adm. Megan Dean said in the release. “Coast Guard Cutter Stratton ensured there were no disruptions to U.S. interests.”
The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton reportedly witnessed the Russian military vessels, consisting of two submarines, a frigate, and a tugboat, cross into U.S. waters and venture 30 miles inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
The encounter with the Stratton, a 418-foot legend-class national security cutter, took place 60 miles northwest of Point Hope.
The Stratton is “patrolling under Operation Frontier Sentinel, an operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters,” the Coast Guard shared.
This latest encounter with Russia’s armed forces comes less than two months after the U.S. military intercepted several Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace near the coast of Alaska.
Also in July, Moscow said that it scrambled fighter jets to intercept two U.S. military long-range bomber aircraft that approached the Russian border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic.