The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday it tracked a group of Russian naval vessels, including two submarines, as they passed through U.S. waters off Alaska in an apparent effort to avoid sea ice, a move that is allowed by international rules and customs.
The crew of the US Coast Guard cutter Stratton saw Russian warships cross the maritime border and venture 30 miles into an area that extends beyond US territorial waters known as the Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States, the Coast Guard. he said in a press release.
The Russian ships consist of two submarines, a frigate and a tugboat, the Coast Guard said. The collision occurred nearly 60 miles north of Point Hope.
Photo courtesy of the US Coast Guard
“We actively patrol our maritime border in the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea, with our largest and most capable cutters and aircraft, to protect the sovereign interests of the United States, the fish stocks of the United States, and to promote international maritime standards,” said Rear. Adm. Megan Dean. “Coast Guard Cutter Stratton ensured there were no interruptions to US interests.”
The Coast Guard said the Stratton, a 418-foot Legend-class national security cutter, is “on patrol under Operation Frontier Sentinel, an operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around the waters of the United States”.
The incident comes less than two months later US military intercepted several Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace near the coast of Alaska.
The military activity of the United States, Canada, Russia and China has increased in the Arctic. In July, Moscow said scrambled fighter jets to intercept two long-range US military bombers approaching the Russian border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic.