US WARSHIP TO GEORGIAN PORT PARTLY HELD BY RUSSIA
By Steve Gutterman
AP foreign
Friday September 5 2008
POTI, Georgia (AP) – The flagship of the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean
fleet anchored outside a key Georgian port Friday, defiantly bringing
in tons of humanitarian aid to a city still partly occupied by hundreds
of Russian troops.
The USS Mount Whitney was the first Navy ship to travel to 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 honor 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 Kiev, 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 nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan – also praised Russia for "helping peace and security"
in the region. However, the nations did not go as far as Russia and
recognize Georgia’s two separatist areas – South Ossetia and Abkhazia –
as independent nations.
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, attacked the port and sank eight Georgian naval
vessels in the harbor. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers that Russia
calls "peacekeepers" are still camped just 4 miles (6 kilometers)
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 from the
water. The windows of Georgia’s naval headquarters were shattered,
the buildings pockmarked by large caliber ammunition.
According to the port’s director of security, Vakhtang Chichradze,
there was little the Russians didn’t steal – 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 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.
"There are absolutely no weapons of any sort on these ships," said Cpt.
John Moore. Moscow had signaled 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 Russians won’t be inspecting the aid.
"That will not be allowed," Dorrian said. "The port of Poti is Georgian
sovereign territory."
Georgian Defense David Kezerashvili told the Associated Press that
the ship’s arrival sent a strong message to Moscow.
"It’s very important for an American ship to stand for the defense
of democracy against the totalitarian regime of Russia," he said.
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 added.
In Portugal, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russia was
"deepening its isolation" by not honoring commitments to withdraw
forces from Georgia.
Ukraine was the third country Cheney has visited this week, after
oil-rich Azerbaijan and Georgia, where Washington announced $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."
Yushchenko has also objected to Russia using its ships stationed in
Sevastopol, a leased Russian military base in Ukraine, during the war,
and condemned Russia’s decision to recognize Georgia’s two separatist
areas as independent states.
Cheney met separately with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, discussing
regional security and efforts to diversify energy supplies.
Cheney’s visit came during a political crisis pitting Yushchenko and
Tymoshenko, coalition partners, against one another, setting Ukraine’s
government teetering on the verge of collapse.
In the French city of Avignon, European Union nations called Friday
for an international probe to determine which country should shoulder
responsibility for starting the war between Georgia and Russia.