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USS "John S. McCain" (archive image): Trouble in the Japanese Sea
Photo: Yonhap / REUTERS
It is not uncommon for Russian and US armed forces to clash.
Mostly, however, it is fighter jets that ascend to punish actual or suspected violations of their own airspace.
Such disputes are less common on the world's oceans.
Now, however, there is said to have been a precarious situation in the sea of Japan.
As the British Guardian reports, the Russian Navy reports an incident off its own Pacific coast.
Accordingly, the destroyer USS "John S. McCain" had entered its own waters.
And, according to information from Moscow, "illegally".
Thereupon the "Admiral Vinogradov", also a destroyer, threatened to ram the enemy ship.
After the warning and a change of course by the "Admiral Vinogradov" the US ship turned off.
According to the Russian side, the "John S. McCain" had been in the Peter-the-Great Bay about two kilometers beyond its own sea border.
The "Admiral Vinogradov" had therefore been monitoring the course of the other ship for a long time.
Another ship was later sent to the area.
From the US side came a denial: "The declaration of the Russian Federation about this mission is wrong," said fleet spokesman Joe Keiley accordingly.
The own ship was by no means "thrown" out of foreign waters.
There has been a dispute over the sea borders for decades
Russia claims the huge bay as a separate sea area from Soviet times.
However, the US side does not accept this, as Keiley further explained: "At that time the Soviet Union claimed more of its own waters - and waters further from the coast - than it would be entitled to under international law."
With the action of "John S. McCain" the USA had demonstrated that these waters do not belong to Russian territory and that the USA does not accept Russia's historical claim to the Peter the Great Bay.
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