PRESIDENT Putin appears displeased at losing his man in the Trump administration: Russian warplanes have buzzed a US navy destroyer and a spy ship has appeared off the US coast.

The US Navy yesterday revealed Russian Su-24 attack jets swooped on the USS Porter in the Black Sea on Saturday Australian time, less than a day after President Trump announced he was 'considering' National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's future.

Mr Flynn's fall from grace - and resignation on Tuesday - followed controversy over his allegedly close ties to Russian powerbrokers, and his attempts to cover-up a series of phone calls to the Russian ambassador.

Now Moscow has suddenly ramped-up its aggressive military posture-making.

In what the US Navy calls 'unsafe and unprofessional' conduct, the destroyer was approached three times by Russian military aircraft which refused to respond to queries.

Meanwhile, a Russian spy ship has been located sitting off the US East Coast amid revelations Russia secretly deployed new medium-range nuclear-tipped cruise missiles - a violation of a 1987 treaty - to two sites in Europe in December.

NEWS CORP