Tensions Between The U.S. And Russia Continue To Increase

Are you invading, or just lost? Russian navy threatens to ram US warship ‘John McCain’ after it crosses border near Vladivostok

RT

A notorious US naval destroyer sparked a diplomatic incident on Tuesday morning after Russia claimed that it had launched an incursion into its territorial waters.

The USS John S McCain, a specialist combat ship designed to hunt submarines, was operating in the Sea of Japan (also called the East Sea), off the coast of the Russian Far Eastern capital, Vladivostok. Authorities say it was more than two kilometers inside Russia’s internationally recognized maritime border.

A statement from the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said that the vessel had “violated” Russian waters and was “warned of the unacceptability of its actions” by the Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Vinogradov, which had been tailing it. The communiqué added that sailors had told the American ship of the “potential of resorting to ramming to force the trespasser out of the territory.” 

The US Navy claimed in a statement later on Tuesday that the vessel’s so-called “freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging Russia's excessive maritime claims.”

Russian MiG-31 fighter jet races to escort American spy plane in skies over Pacific Ocean, amid growing tensions with Washington

RT

A US Air Force reconnaissance plane flying in international airspace has been shadowed through the skies by a Russian fighter pilot off the country’s Pacific coast, Ministry of Defense officials in Moscow confirmed on Friday.

A spokesperson for the department revealed that the Russian MiG-31 jet “took off from an airfield in Kamchatka to identify [the American plane] and accompany it. The fighter pilot identified the target as a strategic reconnaissance aircraft RC-135.”

The ministry confirmed that the spy plane, equipped with high-tech reconnaissance equipment, had not violated the border and was escorted along its flight path. After the US pilot set a course away from the Russian mainland, the fighter disengaged, reports say.

The incident comes amid a series of diplomatic spats between the two countries. On Thursday, American President Joe Biden signed a decree introducing new sanctions against Russia, banning US companies from directly purchasing shares in Moscow’s foreign debt and expelling ten of its diplomats from Washington. The Kremlin is understood now to be preparing its own measures in response.