U.S. ship visits Georgia port held by Russia

POTI, Georgia - The flagship of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean fleet anchored outside a key Georgian port yesterday, defiantly bringing in tons of humanitarian aid to a city still partly occupied by hundreds of Russian troops.

The USS Mount Whitney was the first Navy ship to travel to Poti since Georgia's five-day war with Russia last month. The continued presence of Russian troops here has been a major point of friction between Russia and the West, which insists Russia has failed to honor a deal to pull back to positions held before fighting broke out Aug. 7.

The in-your-face anchorage at Poti came as Vice President Cheney visited nearby Ukraine, another former Soviet republic that feels threatened by Moscow.

Cheney pledged in Kiev, the capital, that the United States was committed to Ukraine's security and freedom and would back its desire to join NATO despite fierce Russian objections. He said Ukrainians should not be forced to live under Russia's "threat of tyranny, economic blackmail and military invasion."

The Kremlin has watched the arrival of the Mount Whitney and other U.S. warships with deep suspicion, but a Russian Foreign Ministry official said yesterday no military action was planned in response to the U.S. naval presence in the Black Sea.

Two U.S. ships have come and gone from Georgia carrying humanitarian aid, but they anchored at Batumi, to the south, a smaller port with no Russian military presence.

During the war, Russian forces bombed Poti, which has a large oil-shipment facility, attacked the port and sank eight Georgian naval vessels in the harbor. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers that Russia calls "peacekeepers" are still camped just four miles from the port.

Still, traffic flowed freely past two Russian checkpoints yesterday.

Ketino Kebuchava, the owner of a small grocery in Poti, welcomed the warship's arrival.

"We are a small country and we need help," he said. "We welcome anyone but the Russians."

The Mount Whitney will unload aid at Poti's commercial port today, right next door to Poti's damaged naval base.

Signs of destruction were all around. The missile boat Dioskuria - the flagship for Georgia's small navy - stood with its hull underwater, its badly damaged communications masts protruding from the water.

According to the port's director of security, Vakhtang Chichradze, there was little the Russians did not steal - hauling away chairs, light switches and radiators as well as five U.S.-made Hummer military vehicles.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin and other officials have suggested the United States is delivering weapons to Georgia along with humanitarian aid - but U.S. officials have dismissed those accusations.

"There are absolutely no weapons of any sort on these ships," Capt. John Moore said.

Moscow had signaled it would not impede the Mount Whitney's movement. Contrary to earlier reports, Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command, said Russians won't be allowed to inspect the aid. "The port of Poti is Georgian sovereign territory," he said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry official Andrei Nesterenko offered a measured response to the Mount Whitney's arrival.

"There is no talk of military action," he said, but he questioned the use of warships.

"It is unlikely that warships of this class can deliver humanitarian aid in great quantities," Nesterenko added.

In Portugal, on her way to Libya, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russia was "deepening its isolation" by not honoring its pledge to withdraw from Georgia.

Ukraine was the third country Cheney visited this week, after oil-rich Azerbaijan and Georgia. Washington announced a $1 billion economic aid package for Georgia.

Nicaragua yesterday

became the first country other than Russia to formally recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, giving Moscow a victory in its battle with Georgia over the two breakaway provinces.

President Daniel Ortega

expressed support for Russia's position in a speech Tuesday but took no formal action until a decree was read at Nicaragua's Foreign Ministry yesterday.

"Nicaragua recognizes

the sister republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as the newest members of the world's community of independent nations and we welcome them," the decree said.

- Associated Press