Russia angry at U.S. ship, Cheney sees Moscow threat

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 ships 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 recognized 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 U.S. allies in the region.

In Kiev, he reaffirmed U.S. 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 recognizing 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.

Photo: Reuters