Russia says it ousted an American warship from its waters in the Sea of Japan

The Russian Navy says it intercepted and ousted an American naval vessel near Primorsky Krai on Friday after the U.S. ship reportedly violated Russia’s territorial waters in the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan. According to Moscow, the Admiral Tributs Udaloy-class destroyer came within 60 meters (about 200 feet) of the USS Chafee before the American guided-missile destroyer finally changed course. 

The U.S. ship reportedly ignored multiple warnings that it was prohibited from entering the area due to Russian naval exercises. Moscow says the American Navy’s actions constitute an “egregious violation” of a 1972 bilateral agreement designed to prevent incidents “on and over the high seas.”

On June 23, the Russian Navy similarly accused a British vessel, the HMS Defender, of straying too near the shores of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. In response, the Russian military says it fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the Defender’s path before the ship changed course, though London disputes this version of events and insists that its ship was in Ukrainian territorial waters.