The US Navy has started tracking a Russian spy ship off North Carolina, US officials say, days after the vessel departed a port in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Russian Navy’s Viktor Leonov ship was first spotted steaming in international waters 100 miles south east of Wilmington, North Carolina, CNN reported Monday night, citing two unnamed officials.
The ship is equipped with high-tech surveillance gear and can intercept communications signals, the report added.
Unnamed US military officials told CNN that the ship was observed operating in the Caribbean last week and was expected to spend four-to-six month conducting intelligence operations off the East Coast.
The Russian ship is being tracked by the destroyer USS Cole and other naval assets, the officials said.
This is apparently a routine mission, according to CNN, as the ship had sailed along the same route in on several occasions last year.
Pentagon officials said the Viktor Leonov was…