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US claims Russian ship making ‘unsafe maneuver’ off Florida coast

Anonymous US officials claim that the ship is not using running lights in low visibility weather and it is not responding to hails from other vessels

© Yuri Smetyuk/TASS, archive

NEW YORK, December 17. /TASS/. US officials claim that a Russian surveillance ship, the Viktor Leonov, is making an "unsafe maneuver" in international waters off the coast of South Carolina and Florida, CNN reports.

According to the report, the Russian vessel has been sailing off the coast of these two US states in the last few days. Anonymous US officials claim that the ship is not using running lights in low visibility weather and it is not responding to hails from other vessels seeking to avoid potential accidents.

The Russian ship is also allegedly engaged in "other erratic maneuvers," another official said. The US Coast Guard is "alerting mariners in the area to the Russian ship's presence and its behavior."

The US Navy's USS Mahan, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, is operating close to the Russian vessel.

The Viktor Leonov has been regularly patrolling in international waters along the US eastern coast since 2015, the report claimed.

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