A file photo of Russia's anti-submarine destroyer, Admiral Vinogradov

Moscow, November 25 (RHC)-- A Russian warship has intercepted a U.S. Navy destroyer that breached its territorial waters in the Sea of Japan.  The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the incident occurred in the Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan early on Tuesday.

"The large anti-submarine ship of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Vinogradov stopped the U.S. Navy destroyer John McCain, which was violating the Russian border in the Peter the Great Gulf," the ministry said.  The statement added that the U.S. ship returned to neutral waters after Russia's anti-submarine destroyer issued a warning.  According to the statement, the U.S. Navy destroyer was at least two kilometers past the maritime border.

On Monday, the Russian National Defense Control Center said that the Black Sea Fleet was monitoring the USS Donald Cook destroyer, which had entered the Black Sea earlier in the day.  U.S. military planes and warships are repeatedly intercepted by the Russian military while approaching Russian borders over and in the Black Sea.  The Tuesday interception in the Sea of Japan was said to be a "rare incident."