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The US Navy on Tuesday sent a warship to challenge Russia’s “excessive” maritime claims in the western Pacific, officials said.
The USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, “asserted the rights and freedoms of navigation” through a freedom of navigation operation near Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan, according to a press release from the 7th Fleet.
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“This Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) confirmed the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognized by international law by challenging Russia’s excessive maritime claims,” the statement said.
However, Russia said it had caught the U.S. guided missile destroyer operating illegally in its waters, Reuters reported. The Kremlin said Admiral Vinogradov, a Russian destroyer, issued a verbal warning and threatened to crash into the US warship before chasing it away.
The USS John S. McCain conducted a freedom of navigation operation through Peter the Great Bay on Tuesday, the Navy said.
(Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Markus Castaneda)
The bay is the largest gulf in the Sea of Japan, stretching for 115 miles. It is named after Tsar Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682 to 1725.
In 1984, the Soviet Union claimed the bay as its internal waters by drawing a 106 nautical mile closure line along its coasts. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia maintained this claim, which the Navy said was “incompatible with the rules of international law as reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea”.
“In drawing this line of closure, the USSR attempted to claim more internal waters – and territorial sea further from the shore – than it is entitled to claim under international law,” the 7th fleet.
Ensign James Bateman, of Huntsville, Alabama, scans the horizon using “ big eyes ” while keeping watch on the deck wing of the guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain on Tuesday.
(Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Markus Castaneda)
“By carrying out this operation, the United States has demonstrated that these waters are not the territorial sea of Russia and that the United States does not accept Russia’s claim that Peter the Great is a” historic bay. “Under international law,” the statement continued.
The United States has already carried out similar operations near China, which continues to claim broad territorial claims. The navy often sends warships across the strategic South China Sea.
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The Navy said: “As long as some countries continue to assert maritime claims which are incompatible with international law as reflected in the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea and which claim to illegally restrict the rights and freedoms enjoyed by all. States, to continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all. “
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