April 27 (UPI) -- A Russian spy ship sank in the Black Sea Thursday after it struck a merchant freighter, the Turkish Coast Guard reported.
The surveillance vessel Liman collided with a Togo-registered Youzasif H, a freighter carrying livestock, 18 nautical miles from the coast of the Black Sea and northwest of the Bosphurus Strait's entrance into the sea, near the city of Istanbul. Russia's Black Sea Fleet frequently passes through the strait as they head for the Mediterranean Sea, but it was unclear if the spy ship was heading into or from the Black Sea.