Turkish Press, MI
Sept 5 2008

Russia angry at US ship, Cheney sees ‘threat’ from Moscow
09-05-2008, 14h24
POTI, Georgia (AFP)

Russia criticised the United States on Friday for sending a navy
flagship to a key Georgian port, while US Vice President Dick Cheney
raised the spectre of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Washington says the USS Mount Whitney, which dropped anchor off the
Black Sea port of Poti, is there to deliver vital aid to Georgian
refugees but a senior Russian official suggested it might be serving
military purposes.

"Naval ships of that class can hardly deliver a large amount of aid,"
foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists,
underlining instead the ship’s sophisticated surveillance technology.

Since last month’s war with Georgia, Russian forces have been deployed
at checkpoints near Poti, a strategically important port on the Black
Sea that was bombed by Russian jets, and they are still patrolling
there from time to time.

Russia sent hundreds of tanks and troops into Georgian territory on
August 8 in what it says was a response to a Georgian offensive to
regain control of South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists.

Moscow withdrew the bulk of its forces from Georgia under a
French-brokered ceasefire agreement, but it has kept thousands of
troops deployed in Georgia saying it needs security guarantees before
it pulls out completely.

Russia last week recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another
breakaway region, as independent states, drawing fierce condemnation
from Georgia and many Western countries.

As Russia sought to win support for its intervention at a summit of
ex-Soviet states in Moscow, Cheney wrapped up a tour aimed at
bolstering key US allies in the region.

In Kiev, he reaffirmed US support for Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and, in
a thinly-veiled reference to Russia, said the former member of the
Soviet Union should never fear invasion.

"We believe in the right of men and women to live without the threat
of tyranny, economic blackmail or military invasion or
intimidation. Ukraine’s best hope to overcome these threats is to be
united," he said.

Ukraine is in the grip of a political crisis, with bitter infighting
between the Western-oriented president and prime minister sharpened by
divisions over ties with Russia following its war with Georgia last
month.

The squabbling highlights deep differences between the mainly
Russian-speaking southeast of Ukraine and the predominantly
Ukrainian-speaking northwest of the country, more oriented towards
integration with the West.

European officials have suggested Ukraine could be the next flashpoint
for tensions between Russia and the West, particularly because of
tensions over a Russian naval base in the southern Ukrainian port of
Sevastopol.

Like Georgia, Ukraine has angered Moscow by bidding to join NATO and
the EU.

In Tbilisi on Thursday, Cheney accused Russia of an "illegitimate"
invasion to redraw the map of Georgia and unveiled a one-billion
dollar (701-million euro) aid package to help reconstruction.

His trip to Georgia coincided with an announcement by the OSCE that it
had sent military observers in a buffer zone between Russian and
Georgian troops for the first time since the conflict.

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was hoping the leaders of
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
meeting in Moscow would show the world that Moscow has its backers.

Russia has so far failed to persuade close regional allies to join it
in recognising the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a move
some fear could complicate other territorial disputes in the region.

So far only distant Nicaragua — an old Cold War battleground — has
followed Russia’s lead.

Russian leaders have jetted round the region, with Medvedev announcing
closer military ties with Tajikistan and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
unveiling a new pipeline deal in energy-rich Uzbekistan.