American warship anchors near Georgian port
Published Saturday September 6th, 2008
POTI, Georgia - The flagship of the U.S. navy's Mediterranean fleet anchored outside a key Georgian port Friday, defiantly bringing what Washington said was humanitarian aid to a city still partly occupied by hundreds of Russian troops.
The USS Mount Whitney was the first American naval vessel to visit Poti since Georgia's five-day war with Russia last month. The continued presence of Russian troops here has been a major point of friction between Russia and the West, which insists Russia has failed to honour a deal to pull back to positions held before fighting broke out Aug. 7.
The in-your-face anchorage at Poti came as Vice-President Dick Cheney visited nearby Ukraine, another former Soviet republic that feels threatened by Moscow's military aggression.
Cheney pledged in Kyiv, the capital, that the United States was committed to Ukraine's security and freedom and said Ukrainians should not be forced to live under Russia's "threat of tyranny, economic blackmail and military invasion."
In a diplomatic counterpunch, Russia received support Friday from six other former Soviet republics who issued a joint statement condemning Georgia for using force to try to retake control of its separatist province of South Ossetia.
The declaration by members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization - which groups Russia with Armenia, Belarus and four Central Asian states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - also praised Russia for "helping peace and security" in the region.
However, the other countries did not go so far as to join Russia and recognize Georgia's two separatist areas - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - as independent states.
The Kremlin has watched the arrival of the USS Mount Whitney and other U.S. warships carrying aid with deep suspicion, but a Russian Foreign Ministry official said Friday no military action was planned in response to the U.S. naval presence in the Black Sea.
During the war, Russian forces bombed Poti, which has a large oil shipment facility, and sank eight Georgian naval vessels in the harbour. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers that Russia calls peacekeepers are still camped just some six kilometres from the port.
Still, traffic flowed freely past two Russian checkpoints Friday.
Ketino Kebuchava, the owner of a small grocery store in Poti, welcomed the warship's arrival. "We are a small country and we need help," he said. "We welcome anyone but the Russians. We want the Russians out of our city and out of our country."
The Mount Whitney will unload aid at Poti's commercial port Saturday, right next door to Poti's badly damaged naval base.
Signs of destruction were all around. The missile boat Dioskuria - the flagship for Georgia's small navy - stood with its hull under water, its badly damaged communications masts protruding above the surface. The windows of Georgia's naval headquarters were shattered, the buildings pockmarked by large calibre ammunition.
According to the port's director of security, Vakhtang Chichradze, there was little the Russians didn't loot - hauling away chairs, light switches, radiators as well as five U.S.-made Hummer military vehicles.
"From the military port, they took armchairs, toilets - everything," he said.
Two U.S. ships have already come and gone from Georgia carrying humanitarian aid, but they anchored at Batumi, to the south, a smaller port with no Russian military presence.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have suggested the United States is delivering weapons to Georgia along with humanitarian aid - but U.S. officials have dismissed those accusations and said the aid included blankets and powered milk.
Moscow had signalled it would not impede the ship's movement. But, contrary to earlier reports, Lt.- Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US European Command, said the Russians won't be inspecting the aid.
"That will not be allowed," Dorrian said. "The port of Poti is Georgian sovereign territory."
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry official Andrei Nesterenko offered a measured response to Mount Whitney's arrival.
"There is no talk of military action," he said, but again questioned the use of warships.
"It is unlikely that warships of this class can deliver humanitarian aid in great quantities," Nesterenko said
Ukraine was the third country Cheney has visited this week, after oil-rich Azerbaijan and Georgia, where Washington announced a $1-billion economic aid package to help Georgia rebuild.
Cheney reiterated Friday that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, despite fierce resistance from Moscow.
"The United States has a deep and abiding interest in your well-being and security," Cheney said following talks with President Viktor Yushchenko. "We believe in the right of men and women to live without threat of tyranny, economic blackmail and military invasion or intimidation."
The show of support was important for Yushchenko's western-leaning government, which has pushed strongly for closer ties with the European Union and NATO.
"We value our strategic bilateral relationship highly," Yushchenko told Cheney. "On the majority of the issues, including Georgia, we have an understanding with the United States."
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