Russia lodges official protest with U.S. over naval incident

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it had lodged an official protest with the United States over a naval incident in the Sea of Japan, which it said was a provocation designed to disturb the peace.

Russia had said on Tuesday that one of its warships had caught and chased off a U.S. destroyer operating illegally in its territorial waters in the Sea of Japan. The U.S. Navy denied wrongdoing and accused Moscow of making excessive maritime claims.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Kevin Liffey)