ALERT US destroyer en route to Russian held Georgian port

Swamp Wallaby

Swamp Wallaby

International Observer
This could get interesting. Watch this space, ladies and gentlemen... it only needs one jumpy soldier or sailor to do something stupid for things to escalate very fast.


U.S. destroyer heads to Georgian port of Poti

A U.S. navy destroyer carrying humanitarian aid to Georgia was headed to the port city of Poti, where Russian forces were deployed, a U.S. embassy spokesman said Tuesday. (UPDATED)


The USS McFaul and another US ship, the Dallas coast guard cutter, were to arrive Wednesday in the strategic Black Sea port in a strong show of support for Georgia.

"At the request of the Georgian government, they will be delivering humanitarian aid to Poti," spokesman Steve Guice told AFP.

Asked about the presence of Russian soldiers in Poti, Guice said: "We are not trying to provoke anything, but we are willing to go wherever to deliver humanitarian aid."

Georgian Interior Ministry Spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP that Russian forces were holding two positions on roads leading into Poti in western Georgia on Tuesday.

Russian forces have also carried out patrols in the city after the bulk of its forces withdrew from Georgia last Friday.

Moscow says it has the right under a French-brokered deal to maintain an "area of responsibility" far into the country’s territory, including in and around Poti.

The McFaul arrived at the port city of Batumi on Sunday as the first of three U.S. ships that are to carry thousands of blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and infant care supplies to Georgia.

It had been moored about two kilometers (1.2 miles) offshore from the Black Sea port.

The U.S. Navy has said that the USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, will also set sail for the Black Sea at the end of the month.

Russia has accused NATO countries of using humanitarian aid as cover for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea in the wake of the conflict.

On Monday, a Russian warship active during the conflict with Georgia left the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol, an AFP correspondent said.

The Moskva, equipped with P-500 Bazalt sea-based anti-ship missiles and an air defense system, had returned to port on Saturday after leaving its base on the second day of Russian manoeuvres in Georgia.

A crew member quoted by RIA Novosti said that the warship was cruising eastern areas of the Black Sea, not far from Georgia.

Russia sent tanks and troops into Georgian territory in response to a Georgian offensive on August 7 to retake South Ossetia, a breakaway region backed by Moscow.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/h...d=244&sz=84525
 
C

centermass

Contributing Member
BTT

This is being reported elsewhere folks...no typo. It even mentions McFaul having been in Bautami...it is now headed for Poti due in Wednesday.
 
sassy

sassy

Veteran Member
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19295

‘No Decision Yet where Ship will Dock in Georgia’ – U.S. Navy



The U.S. navy and the Georgian government are currently trying to determine whether the next U.S. humanitarian shipment will be again delivered to Batumi, or to Poti, a U.S. navy official told Civil.Ge

Earlier on August 26 Reuters and The Associated Press reported, quoting a U.S. embassy representative in Tbilisi as saying that U.S. ship-borne humanitarian aid will be delivered to Poti on August 27.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Gay, however, told Civil.Ge via phone: “I can not confirm the next port at this time.”

He said that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas (WHEC 716) was on its way to Georgia.

“The U.S. navy is working with the government of Georgia to determine the best place to off-load the next shipment of humanitarian assistance,” he said. “The ship will be U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas, but they are working with the Georgian government right now [to determine] where it will dock and where the Georgian government wants those supplies to be delivered.”


“We are looking at all options,” he said, adding that a decision would be made soon, “possibly today.”

Russian troops currently maintain two checkpoints at the entrance of Poti, controlling the strategic port town.

A U.S. navy guided missile destroyer, the USS McFaul, had to anchor off the coast of Batumi on August 24, delivering humanitarian aid, instead of Poti.

The U.S. navy official said that USS McFaul had already left Batumi, but the warship “is currently conducting routine operations in the Black Sea.”


Meanwhile, Anatoly Nogovitsin, the deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, said at a news conference in Moscow on August 26 that the presence of NATO warships in the Black Sea did not contribute to stability in the region.

“The heightened activity of NATO ships in the Black Sea perplexes us,” Nogovitsin said. “It is hard to believe that those warships are there just to bring humanitarian aid.”

He claimed that 10 ships from NATO nations were currently in the Black Sea and that eight more were about to join them.

Nogovitsin also said that military vessels of Russia’s Black Sea fleet were off Sokhumi, breakaway Abkhazia’s capital, to transport Russian military hardware and personnel back to Russia.




{it's getting crowded in the Black Sea!}
 
mcchrystal

mcchrystal

Inactive
sassy said:
{it's getting crowded in the Black Sea!}
Click to expand...

Yeah, not good at all. This is just about as bad as the same crowding in
the Med. Funny how Russia's back to pointing the finger at the US while
doing precisely what they accuse our Navy of doing.

It's 1979 all over again, friends.

-Steve in Burbank
 
MC2006

MC2006

Veteran Member

Russia recognises Georgian rebels


President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that Russia formally recognises the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The move follows a vote in both houses of parliament on Monday, which called on Moscow to recognise the regions.

The move, in defiance of a specific plea from the US president, provoked a wave of protest from Western countries.

Russia and Georgia fought a brief war this month over the provinces, which already had de facto independence.

Analysts say the move is likely to further escalate tensions between Russia and the West.

"I have signed decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and the independence of Abkhazia," Mr Medvedev said in the announcement.

"That was no easy choice to make, but it is the sole chance of saving people's lives," Mr Medvedev added.

He blamed Georgia for failing to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the problem and called on other states to follow Russia's example.

Violation

Georgia's deputy foreign minister Giga Bokeria responded angrily, saying: "This is an unconcealed annexation of these territories, which are a part of Georgia."

Western countries, including the US, Germany, Britain and France immediately condemned the move.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking from the West Bank city of Ramallah, said the decision was "regrettable".


Late on Monday, the US state department had warned that recognition of the two provinces' independence would be "a violation of Georgian territorial integrity" and "inconsistent with international law".

In a statement, Mr Bush had called on Russia's leadership to "meet its commitments and not recognise these separatist regions".

In the two breakaway regions, however, Moscow's move was warmly welcomed.

Residents in Abkhazia took to the streets to celebrate the news, firing into the air, Reuters reports, and in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali there were scenes of jubilation.

"We feel happy. We all have tears in our eyes. We feel pride for our people," said Aida Gabaz, a 38-year-old lawyer in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi.

'New understanding'

Earlier on Tuesday, Russia cancelled a visit by Nato's secretary general, one of a series of measures to suspend co-operation with the military alliance.

Russia's ambassador to Nato said the trip would be delayed until relations between the two were clarified.

Dmitry Rogozin said a "new understanding" needed to be reached between Russia and Nato.

The BBC's Humphrey Hawksley, in Moscow, says the recognition is bound to dramatically heighten tensions in Russia's already fragile relationship with the West.

He says this and a series of other announcements indicate that Russia is preparing itself for a showdown.

Although most of Russia's forces pulled out of the rest of Georgia last Friday, it is maintaining a presence both within the two rebel regions and in buffer zones imposed round their boundaries.

Port control

Some Russian troops also continue to operate near the Black Sea port of Poti, south of Abkhazia, where Russia says it will carry out regular inspections of cargo.

The US said on Tuesday that its warships would deliver aid to Georgia's port of Poti, which is under Russian control. The move could mean US and Russian forces coming face-to-face.



Speaking to the BBC's Europe Today programme, he said: "They are clearly trying to empty southern Ossetia from Georgians, which I don't think goes by any of the books that we deal with in international relations".

At a checkpoint in South Ossetia, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse said a South Ossetian commander said many Georgian civilians had already left of their own accord, because they were scared of the guns.
 
energy_wave

energy_wave

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Whats really on this U.S. destroyer anyway? Special early warning radar?

This Georgia incident could actually be a way to pre position ships further north before the take down of Iran occurs.:whistle:
 
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