Russian warship 'aggressively approached' US destroyer in Arabian Sea, risked collision, claims US Navy

A Russian warship "aggressively approached" a US Navy destroyer in the North Arabian Sea on Thursday, risking a collision between the two after the former initially ignored warnings from the US vessel, the US Navy said Friday.

"On Thursday, Jan. 9, while conducting routine operations in the North Arabian Sea, USS Farragut (DDG 99) was aggressively approached by a Russian Navy ship," the US Navy 5th Fleet said in a tweet.

In the following tweet, the Navy said that the Russian ship ignored collision as many as five warning blasts from the USS Farragut and came extremely close before turning away.

"Farragut sounded five short blasts, the international maritime signal for the danger of a collision, and requested the Russian ship alter course in accordance with international rules of the road," the tweet read.

Citing two defence officials, CNN reported that the Russian warship came as close as 180 feet from the USS Farragut before changing its course.

The incident comes roughly seven months after another incident in the Pacific where US and Russian warships came so close to each other that the former had to perform an emergency manoeuvre to avoid a collision.