Russia Sails Spy Ship Near US East Coast, Figher Planes Buzz US Destroyer in Black Sea

What really are the prospects for improved relations between Russia and the United States? At this point, that’s impossible to tell. While Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin had a poor relationship, it seemed likely that a new chapter in Russian-American relations might be ushered in with a Trump presidency. Less than a month into the new administration that seems questionable.

The latest event to cause some concern involves a Russian spy ship cruising near the US East Coast. This came right after revelations of other potentially provocative moves by Mr. Putin.

A Russian spy ship was spotted patrolling off the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday morning, the first such instance during the Trump administration — and the same day it was learned the Kremlin had secretly deployed controversial cruise missiles inside Russia and flew within 200 yards of a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials told Fox News.

The Russian ship was in international waters, 70 miles off the coast of Delaware and heading north at 10 knots, according to one official. The U.S. territory line is 12 nautical miles.

No violation of US territorial waters was involved, and this sort of thing is not all that unusual anyway. In fact, the US Navy sends ships with intelligence-gathering capabilities near potential adversaries quite regularly.

The deployment of the cruise missiles is a concern, however, and one that had its beginnings during the Obama administration.

Later Tuesday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Russia had deployed ground-launched cruise missiles to two locations inside the country in December. The New York Times first reported that the Obama administration had previously seen the missiles — then in a testing phase — as a violation of a 1987 treaty between the U.S. and Russia that banned ground-launched intermediate-range missiles.

But Russia has pressed ahead with its program, apparently testing a Trump administration which has sought better ties with Moscow.

There is also the issue of Russian fighter planes buzzing a US destroyer — again, not an unheard of event — but still a concern.

Adding to the aggressive actions, Fox News confirmed a report from The Washington Free Beacon that four Russian jets buzzed the USS Porter in the Black Sea on Friday. The destroyer was roughly 186 miles southwest of Crimea and roughly 50 miles off the coast of Romania, a U.S. official said.

The jets buzzed the destroyer over course of “several hours,” the official said without specifying. A Russian IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft came in first, followed by two Su-24 attack jets, and then a single Su-24.

All approached “low and fast,” the official added, saying the ship was conducting “routine operations in international waters.”

Again, none of this is unprecedented, nor does it necessarily portend an escalation in conflicts. There is reason for concern, however.

In the past, Russian spy ships have loitered off the coast of Kings Bay, Ga., home to a U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarine base. During the Cold War, Russian intelligence gathering ships routinely parked off U.S. submarine bases along the East Coast

In September 2015, another Russian spy ship was spotted near the U.S. outside the submarine base in Kings Bay.

Taken in total, the events impacting the relationship between Russia and the United States may be a matter of the leadership of both nations testing each other in a run up to formal negotiations between the two presidents. While there is no reason for panic, there is, as usual, plenty of reason for concern.

Source: Fox News