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According to the two opposing reports, US and Russian warships approached between 50 and 165 feet from each other, with both parties claiming that their vessels had been forced to perform maneuvers. emergency to avoid a collision.
"A Russian destroyer (…) has carried out a dangerous maneuver against the USS Chancellorsville, approaching 50 to 100 feet, putting the safety of his crew and his ship in danger," said Cmdr, spokesman of the US Navy. Clayton Doss told CNN in a statement.
"This dangerous action forced Chancellorsville to run all the engines at full speed and maneuver to avoid a collision," Doss said.
The US guided missile cruiser was traveling in a straight line and was trying to recover his helicopter when the incident occurred, he said.
"We consider that Russia's actions during this interaction are dangerous and unprofessional," Doss said.
The US account was contradicted by the Russian Pacific Fleet, which claimed that it was the US ship that was behind the incident, according to reports reported by the agency official press RIA-Novosti.
CNN got a picture of the event after a US official told CNN that the navy was working to declassify images to challenge the Russian narrative that the United States was at fault.
"While traveling on parallel courses of a fleet detachment of the Pacific Fleet and a group of carriers from the US Navy, the Chancellorsville cruiser suddenly changed direction and crossed to less than 50 meters from Admiral Vinogradov ", forcing the Russian destroyer to take emergency evasive action, says the report.
The US Navy said the incident had occurred in the Philippine Sea, while the Russian report said it had happened in the East China Sea. The Senakaku Islands (also known as the Diaoyu Islands in China) form the boundary between the two bodies of water, in southern Japan and eastern Taiwan.
Whatever the case may be, the incident occurred in international waters and exceptionally far from Russia, according to Carl Schuster, retired captain of the US Navy and former Director of Joint Operations. Intelligence Center of US Pacific Command.
"The Russians normally harass our ships when they operate in waters considered by Russia as belonging to their sphere of influence (Black Sea, Barents Sea and Validvostok waters", said Schuster, who said spent 12 years at sea on American warships.
"Putin has clearly ordered the Russian Navy to put pressure on the USN whenever the opportunity arose." This could be a manifestation of political support for China while Xi is in Moscow, but more likely to point out that Russia is willing to challenge American domination over the stage world and at sea, "he said.
International maritime law requires ships to maintain a safe distance, normally interpreted as less than 1,000 yards, when crossing another, Schuster added. It also requires that the marines do not interfere with another ship engaged in air operations, he said.
The second of the three interactions "was considered dangerous" due to the fact that the Russian aircraft was making a high speed passage directly in front of the mission aircraft, which endangered our pilots and our crew " said the US Navy.
Mary Ilyushina of CNN contributed to this report.
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