The international community is on edge of late, thanks in no small part to the ongoing escalation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and all of the horrifying threats that surround it.
Just this week, a rather close Putin ally suggested, in no uncertain terms, that Russia would likely deploy nuclear weapons should their unwinnable war in Ukraine fail.
Now, amid this sordid and sensational claim, there is a strange Russian warship lurking just offshore of America.
The US Coast Guard said Wednesday it has been monitoring a Russian ship located near the Hawaiian Islands for weeks.
The USCG announced in a bulletin it has been watching the vessel, which is believed to be an “intelligence gathering ship.”
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“As part of our daily operations, we track all vessels in the Pacific area through surface and air assets and joint agency capabilities,” Cmdr. Dave Milne, the Coast Guard’s chief of external affairs, said in a statement.
Foreign military vessels may travel freely through US waters, but “foreign-flagged military vessels have often been observed operating and loitering” in the Coast Guard’s “area of response,” the statement said.
Russia has been hanging around Hawaii quite a bit lately.
In May, the US Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring a Russian vessel near Hawaii. A retired Marine lieutenant colonel told KHON at the time that the Soviet Union used to send intelligence ships to loiter near Hawaii during the Cold War.
“The tactics, techniques, and procedures that we saw the Soviets doing back in the Cold War seem to be resurfacing again under the Russian banner,” Lt. Colonel Hal Kempfer said. “This looks like one of those issues that I would point to Russian intelligence ships potentially off the shore of Hawaii.”
Russia has repeatedly suggested that foreign interference will not be tolerated in Ukraine, but this sort of nefarious harassment could lead to unintended consequences for the Kremlin.
Staff