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Russian warships sent to Abkhazia
Russia has sent a missile cruiser and two other ships to a Georgian port, while a US military ship has docked at another southern port in a show of force amid an escalating standoff with the West over a nation devastated by war with Russia.The dockings came a day after Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, recognised the two Georgian breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, prompting harsh criticism from Western nations. Georgia reacted by recalling all but two diplomats from its embassy in Moscow. The US Coast Guard cutter Dallas, carrying 34 tons of humanitarian aid, docked in the Black Sea port of Batumi, south of the zone of this month's fighting between Russia and Georgia. The arrival in Batumi avoided Georgia's main cargo port of Poti, which is still controlled by Russian soldiers. The US embassy in Georgia had earlier said the ship was headed to Poti, but then retracted its statement. Zaza Gogava, the head of Georgia's joint forces command, said the port in Poti could have been mined by Russian forces and still contained several Georgian ships sunken in the fighting. Posted by: Fred 2008-08-28 |
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