USSA and Russia On a War Footing

Kremlin sends missile cruiser to Abkhazia port. US coastguard boat forced to redirect 'aid' delivery.

US and Russian warships on opposing sides of the Georgia conflict took up positions in the Black Sea yesterday in a war of nerves.

With the Russians effectively controlling Georgia's main naval base at Poti, Moscow also dispatched the missile cruiser Moskva and two smaller craft on "peacekeeping" duties at the port of Sukhumi on the coast of Abkhazia, the breakaway region that the Kremlin recognised as independent on Tuesday.

The US, wary of escalating a fraught situation, cancelled the scheduled docking in Poti of the US coastguard vessel Dallas and instead sent it to the southern Georgian-controlled port of Batumi to deliver relief supplies.

"Let's hope we don't see any direct confrontation," said Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, as Moscow challenged the US policy of using military aircraft and ships to deliver aid.

"The decision to deliver aid using Nato battleships is something that hardly can be explained," said Peskov. "It's not a common practice."

He added that Russian naval forces were taking "some measures of precaution" around the Black Sea as the dispute caused by Russia's recognition of Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's independence resulted in strong criticism from the European countries most reluctant to sever relations with Russia... Guardian