Russian Spy Ship Sighted in NATO Waters Near US Aircraft Carrier

The United States sent an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean Sea on Monday following the arrival of a Russian spy ship that has been loitering off the coasts of NATO member countries for days.

According to a ship spotter in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory that borders Spain to the north, the USS Harry S. Truman, one of 11 U.S. Navy aircraft carriers in service, was seen sailing into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean via the Strait of Gibraltar.

This transit came after the U.S. military removed its remaining “flattop” in the Middle East last week. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Harry S. Truman would head toward the Red Sea, which is connected to European waters by the Suez Canal in Egypt.

Meanwhile, earlier on Monday, Russian auxiliary general oceanographic research vessel Yantar, which is viewed by American intelligence as a spy ship, also passed through the Strait of Gibraltar eastward, according to MarineTraffic, a website that tracks ships worldwide.

According to MarineTraffic, the Yantar has a reported destination of Algiers, which is the capital city of Algeria, a North African country located on the Mediterranean Sea’s coast.

Newsweek emailed the U.S. Navy and the Russian defense ministry for comment.

The Yantar was monitored by Norway’s coast guard after “loitering” around the Nordic country’s shores for days after the end of last month.

The Russian military ship, equipped with submersible remotely operated vehicles, is likely to be seeking undersea cables belonging to NATO and its allies, a research consultant said. It’s based in Russia’s northwestern city of Severomorsk and assigned to the Northern Fleet.

After its departure from the Norwegian Sea, the Yantar was tracked sailing southward and passing through the English Channel, separating Great Britain from continental Europe.

It then headed northward to the Irish Sea, which lies between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain and contains submarine pipelines and cables. This came after an undersea telecommunications cable linking Finland and Germany across the Baltic Sea was severed.

Before its entry into the Strait of Gibraltar, the Yantar was monitored by the Portuguese navy on Sunday as it transited the country’s exclusive economic zone, which is an area of the ocean extending 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond the territorial sea of Portugal.

The Yantar is known for researching critical underwater infrastructure such as oil pipelines or telecommunications cables, the Portuguese navy said, adding that it safeguarded the country’s interests and critical infrastructure through monitoring and surveillance actions.

The Harry S. Truman and its warship escorts left Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia for a regularly scheduled deployment to Europe in late September. They reached the North Sea in mid-October for operations with allies and partners from several countries in the region.

Two of the aircraft carrier’s destroyer escorts, USS Jason Dunham and USS Stout, were later sent to the Barents Sea, which is Russia’s Arctic doorstep, for maritime operations.