U.S. Warship Anchors Off Georgia
Relief Cargo to Pass Russian Checkpoints on Trip to Interior

By Philip P. Pan and Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 6, 2008

MOSCOW, Sept. 5 -- The flagship of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean fleet anchored Friday off a key seaport in Georgia around which Russian troops are posted, and a Georgian official said trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the ship would be passing armed Russian checkpoints en route to the Georgian interior as soon as this weekend.

The arrival of the Mount Whitney, the first U.S. Navy vessel to call at the Black Sea port of Poti since Georgia's defeat in a five-day war with Russia last month, came as Vice President Cheney continued to anger Moscow with a tour of former Soviet republics, visiting Ukraine to bolster its fragile, pro-Western government.

"The United States has a deep and abiding interest in your well-being and security," Cheney said after talks with Ukrainian 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 American decision to deliver aid on a warship at Poti appeared intended to challenge the presence of Russian troops on Georgian soil and send a message of support to the Georgian government. Two U.S. military vessels have already delivered aid shipments to Georgia, but through a smaller port where there is no Russian military presence.

"We've worked closely with the Republic of Georgia, figuring out the most efficient and effective way to deliver each of these shipments," said Lt. Patrick Foughty, a Navy spokesman. "In this particular case, the Republic of Georgia requested we go to Poti, and that's why we're there."

The Russian soldiers positioned around Poti and in other places on Georgian soil have been a major source of the continuing tensions between Russia and the West.

U.S. and European officials say their presence violates the cease-fire agreement Moscow signed ending the war. Russia contends its forces have a right under that deal to establish "security zones" on Georgian territory to deter attacks against two separatist republics it has recognized as independent states.

A Georgian attempt to seize one of the breakaway provinces, South Ossetia, triggered the war and resulted in the Russian invasion.

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, told reporters Friday that the E.U. was "practically ready" to send 200 civilian monitors into the security zones to replace Russian troops. Russia has said that it would welcome the monitors but that it would not withdraw its troops until a robust "international mechanism" was in place to prevent Georgian attacks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was scheduled to visit Moscow on Monday, and in a possible concession by the Kremlin ahead of the talks, Georgian officials reported that Russian troops had withdrawn from a base in the western city of Senaki.

But Russian leaders continued to complain about the U.S. humanitarian mission to Georgia, asking why warships were needed to deliver relief supplies and voicing suspicions that they are bringing weapons to rebuild the Georgian military.

Russian officials have said the Russian troops around Poti are needed to watch for arms shipments coming through the port.

About 60 are stationed at two checkpoints along the roads leading in and out of Poti, said Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry. The troops occasionally enter Poti to buy or steal food and vodka, he said.

Utiashvili said the troops have not impeded commercial traffic to and from the port, and he expressed confidence they would not try to stop the American aid shipment.

Maj. Rob James, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command who was in Poti, said he had not seen any sign of Russian troops in his movements in and around the city. "And we're making every effort and expending every energy to make sure we don't," he said. "That's one of our major goals -- to make sure we avoid confronting any Russians."

Because Poti's port is too shallow for the U.S. ship, the supplies will be unloaded onto a barge for delivery to shore. U.S. officials said that aid agency workers, not military personnel, will drive the trucks delivering the supplies, about 17 tons of blankets, juice, condensed milk and other goods.

At a news briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko questioned the legality and purpose of the Mount Whitney visit but said, "We are not talking about any possibility of military action or anything like that."

Speaking a day after Cheney visited Georgia and pledged U.S. help to rebuild the nation and bring it into the NATO alliance, Nesterenko accused the vice president of encouraging aggression by the government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

"Such statements and, most importantly, the new promises to Georgia of its relatively fast accession to NATO only strengthen in Mr. Saakashvili's regime the dangerous feeling of impunity," he said.

After arriving in Kiev, Cheney renewed U.S. support for letting Ukraine join NATO as well, and urged the country's political leaders to put aside differences that threaten to bring down the country's government.

Bahrampour reported from Tbilisi, Georgia.