Free Republic

CHARLESTON, SC (WBTW) – A Russian spy ship is operating unsafely off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, according to an advisory bulletin issued by the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard broadcast the “Marine Safety Information Bulletin” to alert mariners in the area to the Russian ship’s presence and its behavior on Sunday. “The United States Coast Guard has received reports indicating that the RFN Viktor Leonov has been operating in an unsafe manner off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia,” read the notice from the Coast Guard in Charleston. The ship was operating in international waters...

The historic U.S.-Cuba talks are under way and they may have attracted a new addition to the Havana port. The Russian spy ship Viktor Leonov CCB-175 parked there Tuesday, laden with high-tech software, radar and 30-millimeter cannon and anti-aircraft guns, replacing a cruise ship that had been there the day before. Normally, the surveillance ship travels up and down the American Eastern Seaboard in international waters, with its radars pointed in the direction of the United States. On Tuesday, however, just as the Americans were due to arrive for big talks with Cuban officials—the first such high-level talks held in...

(AFP)—A Russian warship was docked in Havana Wednesday, without explanation from Communist Cuba or its state media. The Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, measuring 91.5 meters (300 feet) long and 14.5 meters wide, was docked at the port of Havana's cruise ship area, near the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The ship is reportedly armed with 30mm guns and anti-aircraft missiles.