Coast Guard locates Russian Navy ship off Alaskan coast

Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Coast Guard located a Russian Navy ship sailing south of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

The Vishnya-class naval vessel was spotted 30 miles south of the chain of islands by the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley Monday, with officials confirming the news Saturday.

Though in international waters, the Russian Federation ship was inside the U.S. Economic Exclusion Zone or EEZ , an area of the ocean that generally extends around 200 nautical miles beyond a country's territorial sea.

While patrolling the Aleutian Islands earlier this week, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley (WMEC 39) encountered a Russian Federation Vishnya-class naval vessel south of the Aleutian Islands, #Alaska .

More: https://t.co/n2UpyofUBV — USCGAlaska (@USCGAlaska) August 9, 2024

There was no communication between the Coast Guard cutter and the Russian Federation vessel, U.S. officials said.

A Coast Guard Lockheed HC-130 long-range search and rescue aircraft joined the 283-foot Medium Endurance Cutter in observing the Russian ship until it exited the EEZ. The Alex Haley is homeported in Kodiak, Alaska.

"This type of monitoring of vessel activity is not outside of the normal," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The Vishnya-class vessels were built in the 1980s for the former Soviet Union and are used to gather intelligence.

"As a proud Alaska-homeported cutter, we patrol to uphold maritime governance and a rules-based international order," Alex Haley Cmdr. Steven Baldovsky said in the Coast Guard's statement.

"We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to U.S. interests in the maritime environment around Alaska."

This is not the first time a foreign military ship has ventured into the American EEZ.

Last month, the Coast Guard encountered multiple military ships in the Bering Sea operated by the People's Republic of China. The three vessels were detected approximately 124 miles north of the Aleutian Islands.

In late July, officials with the North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed U.S. and Canadian fighter jets intercepted Russian and Chinese bombers operating off the coast of Alaska.