JUNEAU, Alaska — A U.S. Coast Guard patrol vessel on a routine patrol around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands encountered a Russian vessel in international waters but within the U.S. exclusive economic zone, officials said.
A crew from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alex Haley spotted the vessel Monday about 30 miles southeast of Amukta Pass, the Coast Guard said in a statement Friday. A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak also spotted the vessel.
The statement said the ship was “traveling in international waters but remains within the U.S. exclusive economic zone,” which stretches 200 nautical miles from the U.S. coast.
The coast guard vessel had not made contact with the Russian vessel but tracked it as it moved east, according to the statement.
“We countered the presence to ensure it did not interfere with U.S. interests in the maritime environment around Alaska,” Lt. Commander Steven Bardowski, commander of the Alex Haley, said in a statement.
Officials said that in July, the Coast Guard spotted four Chinese warships during patrols in international waters north of Amchitka Strait in the Aleutian Islands, as well as within the U.S. exclusive economic zone.
Later that month, Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace off the coast of Alaska, a new example of expanding military cooperation but one that drew concern from U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the time.
These flights were not considered a threat, and the bombers were tracked and intercepted by U.S. and Canadian fighter jets.
However, this is the first time that a Chinese bomber has flown within Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone.
It was the first time that Chinese and Russian aircraft took off from the same base in northeastern Russia.
