The United States Coast Guard has been tracking the movements of a suspected Russian spy ship meandering off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands, CNN reports, in an area used by international cargo ships sailing through.
The ship, said to be designed to look like a commercial vessel, has been in the US Economic Exclusive Zone, an area where foreign ships, including foreign navy vessels, freely move. This ship, however, is drawing more attention. “In recent weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard has continued to monitor a Russian vessel, believed to be an intelligence gathering ship, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands,” the Coast Guard announced in a press release.
In 2017, the US forced the SSV Viktor Leonov to move on after lingering off the East Coast of the United States, sailing from Connecticut to Florida before heading to Cuba. The Coast Guard repeatedly cited the ship for unsafe maneuvering because the Leonov would operate in poor weather and at night without its running lights.