A Russian spy ship has been spotted off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina, on Monday (January 22.) A U.S. military official was first to spot the ship. A few days prior, it was seen departing from the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain. Before that, the ship was seen in the Caribbean last week, according to a US defense official. The ship has also traveled up near Cape Canaveral, King’s Bay, Norfolk, and New London, all of which hold US naval installations. The vessel was spotted near the United States' east coast last year, around February and March. In March 2017, it was also spotted about 20 miles south of the Florida border.
An expert states that the ship is probably on a four-to-six-month mission, conducting intelligence operations along the East Coast. The ship possesses an array of technical spy equipment and is designed to capture communication signals, even on foreign land. It is called the Viktor Leonov and was first commissioned in 1988. It is named after Viktor Nikolayevich Leonov, a Soviet sailor who was awarded the “Hero of the Soviet Union” title twice in his career.
Source: cnn.com
