BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:00 P.M.) – The American 7th Fleet announced that Washington does not recognize the Russian maritime borders in the Gulf of Peter the Great in the Sea of Japan near the city of Vladivostok, after a U.S. destroyer violated these borders today.
This came in response to the Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement that the anti-submarine ship “Admiral Vinogradov” prevented the American destroyer “John McCain” from violating Russia’s borders in the waters of the Peter the Great Bay on Tuesday morning.
The command of the American 7th Fleet said in a statement that the destroyer John McCain was carrying out an operation to ensure freedom of navigation in the Peter the Great Bay.
They added: “By implementing this process to ensure freedom of navigation, the United States has demonstrated that these waters are not the territorial sea of Russia, and that the United States does not agree with Russia’s statement that the Peter the Great Bay is a historic bay, according to international law.”
The statement claimed that the system, according to which the bay is considered part of Russian territorial waters, was declared by the authorities of the Soviet Union in 1984.
It is reported that the area of responsibility of the U.S. Seventh Fleet includes the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean.
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