Russian Warships Sailed 'Right Through' Alaska Fishing Fleet: Sailors
By: DAVID BRENNAN
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Alaskan fishermen have recalled their brush with the Russian navy on Wednesday, when their fleet of commercial vessels came across military drills in international waters in the Bering Sea.
The ships in the fishing fleet were among those who raised the alarm to U.S. forces after bumping into Russian warships and aircraft off the coast of Alaska. Some of those aboard told Alaska Public Media Friday they had never seen anything like the Russian force.
Steve Elliott was aboard the Vesteraalen trawler on Wednesday, fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea when his crew heard Russian voices on their ship's radio. Elliott told APM that the voices soon switched from Russian to English, warning the nearby commercial ships to move out of their way.
"Three warships and two support vessels of theirs were coming and would not turn," Elliott said from aboard the Vesteraalen. "And they came marching right through the fleet."
APM said other vessels were buzzed by Russian military aircraft and also ordered to leave the area. The U.S. military said Thursday the Russian forces were taking part in military drills that were known to some American officials, and that it was tracking all nearby Russian activity.
But fishing vessels say the incident disrupted their fishing and put them in danger. "We were caught by surprise," said Stephanie Madsen, the executive director of the At-Sea Processors Association—a trade group of 13 ships that fish and process Bering Sea pollock.
"It caused a disruption in our fishing operations for at least the 24- to 36-hour period where we were trying to get the facts about what was happening," she told APM.
"And then it's unclear what impacts could continue through the time that the Russians have given us notice the exercises will be underway." APM reported that the drills are scheduled to last into September.
Mike Fitzgerald, a crew member aboard the Blue North cod fishing ship, said his vessel was buzzed six times by a Russian aircraft and ordered out of the area on a set course "at maximum speed."
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said Friday it intercepted six Russian military aircraft—three groups of two Tu-142 maritime patrol aircraft. The planes flew in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone for some five hours and approached within 50 nautical miles of the Alaskan coast, but did not enter American or Canadian airspace.
"I won't say we were fearful, because we're Bering Sea fishermen," Fitzgerald told APM. "But this goes beyond anything when you really know what happened... We had Russian military aircraft threatening us: 'Danger area. Missile area. Proceed out of here.' That's unheard of, and it's really wrong that we haven't gotten more protection out here."
Fitzgerald also said his ship saw a Russian submarine surface close to the Alaskan coast. U.S. Northern Command said Thursday it was "closely monitoring the Russian submarine that surfaced near Alaska today." It added: "We closely track vessels of interest, including foreign military naval vessels, in our area of responsibility."
U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Kip Wadlow told the Associated Press Thursday that the service had been notified of Russian activity by "multiple fishing vessels" that "were concerned."
Wadlow said the commercial ships were operating in the American exclusive economic zone, where natural resources like fish stocks belong to the U.S. The surface is considered international waters, meaning all international ships can operate there.
USNORTHCOM said the Russian maritime activity "is taking place in international waters well outside the U.S. territorial sea."
The State Department issued a statement Friday condemning the Russian activity. Department spokesperson Larry Pixa said the administration would investigate what it called reports of "unprofessional interactions by Russian military forces with U.S. fishing vessels in the Bering Sea."
"Initial indications are that these interactions stem from a Russian naval exercise," Pixa said, according to APM.
U.S. military officials have warned that Russian military activity off the U.S. coasts—especially by submarine, which are harder to spot and track—poses a national security threat to the U.S.
U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis said in February that the American east coast can no longer be considered a "safe haven" for shipping due to Russian submarine activity.
This file photo shows Russian warships sailing on the Neva river during the Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia on July 26, 2020.DMITRY LOVETSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images/Getty
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Nope, nothing to see here folks...
"America first", eh? Apparently not, when Russians want to interfere.
The Red Bear, or should we say the Red Whale spotted.
putin owns trump and knows he won't do anything before the election that would risk negative russian interference.
What would be the justification for doing something? What do you think he should be doing?
So, are we supposed to respond or something?
You're ok with the Russian military interfering with US fishermen in waters where the resources are US property?
Did they? Were the fisherman unable to catch fish? Did the Russians steal our fish? I don't see those details in the story, do you? This is what the story says:
But that disruption is not defined. It sounds to me like they became hesitant to proceed normally because the Russian Navy didn't brief them first. Like that's going to happen.
What would you like us to do? Launch some missiles at them?
They would have run the fishermen over. Told them get the hell out of the way as they were not stopping or veering course.
And the people that were saying Obama was weak with Russia remain silent.
It is outright aggression and not a word from donald or the administration.
They were in international waters. I didn't realize that resources could be owned in international waters.
Unless you are talking about the US fishing vessels. In which case the same thing will be done as always. The US will file a protest with Moscow stating our vessels have a right to be there, and nothing will be done.
Perhaps you should read the seeded article.
I'll admit to not knowing much about fishing, but I'm willing to bet that it's difficult to catch fish in waters into which one is forbidden to go.
Odd. It sounds to me like they had initially proceeded normally, and were chased off.
How about a stern warning from our "America First" President, with consequences laid out? Kinda like what he did when he found out that American soldiers had Russian bounties on their heads.
Oh, wait...
Of course not. And we have American patriots here defending Russian aggressors against Americans.
Unbelievable.
Including American ships.
Not surprised sadly.
What consequences? Seriously. You can't just complain about inaction without having an idea for some kind of action. Preferably, one that makes sense.
The Russians are dicks. I get it. Lots of people are dicks all day long. But unless you're an insane maniac, you don't start a fight every time someone is a dick.
How about we have one of our destroyers go cruising through some Russian fishing boats? Would that make you happy?
I don't think anybody said they approved of the Russians' actions. We're just not prepared to go to war over something so petty.
Threats to US civilians trying to make an honest living? Yes, very petty.
Also, who has advocated going to war? I'd much rather see a diplomatic solution.
Do we threaten their civilians?
I don't think you can compare this to something that happens annually since 1971.
It is petty. It's the international equivalent of playing your stereo too loud or jaywalking.
An action that would risk someone's life or even the long-term livelihoods of many people (in the case of an economic sanction) strikes me as an extreme reaction to something that - relatively speaking - is petty.
They didn't cross our border. No property was damaged. No people were hurt. We don't even have grounds to shout "get off of my lawn!" They were in international waters. There has to be a very narrow range of responses that are appropriate, and those responses should be equally tame.
Great. Such as? We have already condemned it.
That sounds diplomatic. What else do you want? Don't you recognize that something more than that would take time? I hope so. Therefore doesn't it seem a little early to be upset over lack of action?
Not to mention the real-world consequences.
Except it hasn't been once, has it?
Still cannot compare a NATO exercise with many countries involved that has been going on for generations.
The Baltic sea is not only their backyard. There are many countries on the sea.
Like Trump would bite the hand that pees on him.
You're very willing to make assumptions about my thoughts on the matter. No, this should not have been allowed to pass, either. However, I take threats against humans more seriously than threats against unmanned equipment.
Do we threaten other countries' shipping?
From your link:
Seems like Russia stood up to us, and we capitulated to some degree. Same as I'd expect us to do in regards to Russian threats against US civilians.
So if it made Obama weak, I guess that puts donald in the same category.
Not one person here had advocated for war.
And you can't be specific that they are not kissing Russian ass.
Should we send warships to these "international waters"?
I imagine we already have some there. Perhaps we should provides escorts to our citizens' fishing fleets, considering they've been threatened while just trying to make a living and feed people.
[deleted]
And you can't be specific that they are not kissing Russian ass.
What evidence makes you think they are?
[deleted]
Ask the fishermen if they think it was serious. From their quotes in the article, I'd say they do.
Only to trumpers.
What makes you think they are not?
We need to draw a red line in the ocean.
We are at war already, with ourselves.
Being egged on by our own CIC.
Oh I see, you want Trump to get on national TV and talk tuff and sternly tell Russia to "knock it off" and vigorously rattle that saber.
I'm sure that would scare Putin enough that he would crap his pants.
Then, the left will turn right around and accuse him of being belligerent and trying to heighten tensions between the two countries and being a war monger
.
tRump would never do that while he is sucking Putin's dick.
Think whatever you want. Obviously no thought was of US citizens that were threatened.
The Fishermen should have been warned. The article states that US officials knew about the Drills and probably knew about them weeks in advance so it would have been easy to alert American ships that might be using that area. Large ships moving in formation are not going to turn from their course they had the right of way, The Law of Gross Tonnage says "The heavier vessel always has the right-of-way". It would be the same for US Navy Ships but if we were using the area for drills these fishermen would have been notified and told to stay out of the area. We hold drills all over the world with our Allies and countries like China and North Korea bitch about it and often send out "fishing boats" to spy on us and create a general nuisance but we still have the drills and we're probably not that polite to them either.
Yes, they should have been.
I have no problem with military drills occurring in international waters. It is the threats to our civilians also in international waters that is the issue here, as well as the impeding of US businesses harvesting US resources.
That was mainly my problem. It was like they were intentionally trying to disrupt any fishing harvest.
Then coming intentionally close. It seemed to me like an act of aggression. Intentionally flexing their muscle close to our shores.
Like this never happened before Trump.
Russia has been flexing their muscles since Clinton/NATO decided to take down Serbia and hand Kosovo to the Albanians. Think that didn't piss Putin off? Made Russia look weak and pathetic. Caused them no end of problems with their border satellite states down the road.
Throw in Bush Jr with Afghanistan, Georgia, & Iraq; and Obama with Libya, Ukraine, Iraq II, and Syria and the US has been poking the Russian bear for the last 4 administrations at least.
China has taken notice- that is what their military build up and making those island military bases in the Pacific is about. That all started during the Obama administration.
This is what happens when the US goes sticking it's nose into countries that are allies, or are in close proximity, to Russia and China.
Why was the left so silent over Iran's harassment of the US Navy under Obama?
But Trump, but Trump, but Trump.
So much for him being Putin's lackey. Putin wouldn't be trying to make Trump look weak during an election year. Not if he wanted to keep his "puppet" in power. Of course Trump hasn't done Putin any good. The sanctions are still in place and have been strengthened by the Trump administration. Still in Syria and Iraq. Taking Iran to task for killing US troops in Iraq- which started under Bush Jr- and went all through the Obama administration w/o a single peep. Selling weapons to Ukraine; as compared to Obama the spineless that backed a coup there and then wouldn't give them anything more than medicine and blankets.
But Trump, but Trump, but Trump, but Trump, but Trump.
How about we stop poking the damn Russian bear for a while and see if things start to settle down.
Or is everyone that eager to kick off WWIII?
So it is all our own fault and we should just shut up and go with the flow...
What a load of horseshit.
So you are pro intervention into every and any country we deem necessary? Whether we have a right to be there or not?
Good to know the left has matched the right for hawks.
Where did I state that? Oh yeah, nowhere...
Apparently, America standing up for American fishermen is "interventionist".
We should be appeasing the Russians. They were just joking when they threatened our civilians.
MAGA!
We're not appeasing anyone. [deleted]
Yes, yes. "It's not serious. Let's not make a big deal about it. It's petty. It's being handled (because even though it's not a big deal, it needs to be handled). We've been conducting military operations with other NATO countries, so they have a right to threaten our civilians."
Doesn't sound like appeasement at all.
Amazing some could care less.
Anything to protect donald.
Is it any less amazing that some would use anything to attack donald?
I've seen some fairly crazy statements made in this tread. Seems like some people, in their zeal to attack the president would like to start an international incident. All I can say is I'm sure glad that the people who post here are not in charge of national security.
The international incident already happened and all you can think about is donald and how it looks for him or if people are attacking him.
Do you ever wonder why some people call it a cult?
I don't see much difference between the cult attacking donald and the cult defending him. Two sides of the same coin.
So you don't see a difference between people that defend every lie that comes out of his mouth and people that think he is not fit for the office....
This is not big deal to normal people.
You don't consider Alaskan fishermen, good, solid, working class people, to be normal?
Noted.
Fixed your sentence for you. And no, I don't see much difference between them. What I don't see in this thread is the comments (lies) coming from President Trump. I see comments from others who seem pissed that we didn't send the US Navy in to chase away those terrible Ruskies...
I do wish that people would take a breath and calm down. You seeded this thread, what in your mind should the US government do?
Take a breath and calm down? Funny that you can take my blood pressure and heart rate from your side over there.
I am just tired of hypocrites. You cannot tell me that if this happened under Obama's watch, the right wing news cycle would be airing it and calling Obama a coward and weak.
Instead we seem to have it completely ignored and just pushed aside as nothing.
A little consistency would be nice but I don't see that happening any time soon.
At the very least he could condemn the actions.
Really? All I can say to that is Obama's red line in Syria and how right wing news went after him for that. I do think he was wrong in making the statement and then backing away from it but nowhere am I going to try to say that the news would not have attacked him over it. Of course they would. Damn, I've been talking for a while now about how divided we are as a country and how long it's been going on. It's not new with Trump, if anything he's more the result of it than the cause of it. It goes back to Reagan for it's heavier start. And this is just the fighting between Republicans and Democrats. Other political parties have had their day in the sun, fought their battles and faded away.
But you still don't answer the question. What do you think the US government should do in regards to the Russians having a military exercise there in international waters? It's your seed so I would hope you had a reason for seeding it and possible suggestions on what you would like to see done.
It's right in the article you posted.
The State Department issued a statement Friday condemning the Russian activity. Department spokesperson Larry Pixa said the administration would investigate what it called reports of "unprofessional interactions by Russian military forces with U.S. fishing vessels in the Bering Sea."
So I believe that it was not ignored or pushed aside, the response is consistent with other provocations by the Russians (as well as other countries). I don't see where President Trump needs to say anything about it on live TV just so you can feel that he condemned the actions. But your last line there is telling, you are being consistent. You posted this seed in order to attack President Trump. It's very clear by your words.
Actually I posted it because it bugged me that it happened.
You are preaching to the choir as anyone can tell there is division.
Imo the response was minimal. As was any press coverage from the so called left wing media.
Another reason I posted it as most people probably haven't even heard about it.
You thinking I need a reason to attack donald is comical. He is a buffoon on a daily basis. You all acting like we look for reason to dislike him when he pushes reasons at us.
As for what I would like to see done, there really is nothing that can be done at this point. It already happened.