Russian 'spy ship' near Hawaii sends ripples in U.S; Viktor Leonov's suspicious

The U.S. Coast Guard says it has been tracking a suspected Russian spy vessel for weeks off the coast of Hawaii in international waters. This comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over the Ukraine war. The U.S. Coast Guard in a release said it believes the ship to be an intelligence gathering vessel. The vessel Viktor Leonov, a Russian surveillance ship, was sailing off the coast of South Carolina and Florida. The U.S. Coast Guard says the vessel raised suspicion because it was not using running lights even in low visibility weather conditions and did not even respond to commercial vessels' attempts to establish communication to avoid potential accidents.