Hours later u.s indo-pacific command
called the russian statement false and
said the ship's interaction was safe and
professional.
The incident came as Russia and China
conducted joint naval drills in the area
and followed other dangerously close
encounters involving russian and western
warships. It appears to reflect Moscow's intention
to raise the stakes in deterring the US and its allies from sending their ships
on missions near russian waters, as
relations between Russia and the west
are at a post-cold war low.
The ministry said the russian navy's Admiral Tribbetts destroyer closely
approached the u.s destroyer USS Chaffee
to chase it out of the area near russian
waters that was declared off limits to
shipping due to the gunnery drills there
as part of the russia china maneuvers.
It said the russian vessel came close to
the u.s warship after it had ignored
repeated warnings to leave the area in
the peter the great gulf.
The ministry charged that after making
an attempt to cross the russian sea
border, the US warship changed course
when the two ships were just 60 meters, 66 yards away from each other and sped
away.
In a statement, US Indo-Pacific Command
said the Chaffee was conducting routine
operations in international waters when
the russian destroyer came within about
65 yards of the chaffee as it was
preparing for flight operations.
It added that although russia had issued
a notice to airmen and mariners to avoid
that area for a period later in the day, the notice was not in effect at the time
of the ship's interaction. At all times USS Chaffee conducted
operations in accordance with
international law and custom, the u.s
statement said.
The Russian statement denounced the U.S destroyer's maneuvers as a crude
violation of the international rules on
averting ships collision and a 1972
agreement between Moscow and Washington
on preventing air and naval incidents
and summoned the us military attache to
protest what it described as its cruise
on professional action.
russia the u.s and its nato allies have
frequently accused each other of
dangerous and provocative maneuvers at
sea and in the air as russia west ties
have been hit by moscow's annexation of
crimea accusations of russian
interference with elections, hacking
attacks and other tensions.
in june russia said one of its warships
fired warning shots and a warplane
dropped bombs in the path of british
destroyer defender to drive it away from
black sea waters near the crimean city
of sevastopol.
britain denied that a count insisted its
ship wasn't fired upon and said it was
sailing in ukrainian waters. like most of the world britain
recognizes crimea as part of ukraine
despite the peninsula's 2014 annexation
by russia.
june's incident marked the first time
since the cold war that moscow
acknowledged using live ammunition to
deter a nato warship underlining the
rising threat of military collisions
amid russia west tensions.
In the aftermath of the incident moscow
warned that it is prepared to target
intruding warships if they fail to heed
warnings.
In a statement intended to signal
russian resolve Russian President Vladimir Putin charged that the incident
couldn't have triggered a global
conflict even if russia had sunk the
warship because the west knows it can't
win such a war.
In other recent naval incidents the
russian military set the british
destroyer hms dragon intruded into
russian waters near crimea in october
2020 and the u.s destroyer USS John S. Mccain allegedly violated the russian
border in the peter the great gulf in
the sea of Japan in november.
In the aftermath of those incidents
russia rejected the u.s and british
arguments that their warships were
exercising the right of so-called
innocent passage under international
maritime law.
Retired Admiral Victor Kravchenko, the
former russian navy chief of staff said
friday's incident could have had grave
consequences. The americans apparently wanted to test
our strength he said, according to the
interfax news agency.
The Russian warships maneuver during
friday's incident appeared to indicate Moscow's readiness to raise the stakes
to prevent similar intrusions in the
future. The encounter revived memories of a cold
war incident when a soviet frigate
bumped the U.S cruiser USS Yorktown in
the black sea as it was making an
innocent passage in russian waters in
1988 damaging the u.s warship.
