NATO denies Black Sea naval build-up

Brussels: NATO rebuffed Thursday Russian accusations that it was building up naval forces in the Black Sea, as the waters became a new source of tensions linked to the conflict in Georgia.

"There is no NATO naval build up in the Black Sea as Russian authorities are claiming in the media," alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said, after Moscow warned that it would respond.

The alliance said that five warships under its flag were in the sea for routine and long-planned exercises, and that they had sought permission through the proper channels in June to be there.

On Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's office said that Moscow was taking "measures of precaution" against US and NATO warships but that it hoped to avoid a confrontation.

"Certainly some measures of precaution are being taken.... Let's hope we do not see any direct confrontation in that," the spokesman said.

"It's not a common practice to deliver humanitarian aid using battleships," he said, referring to US aid shipments delivered to Georgia, where Russian and Georgian troops have battled this month.

Russia faces a barrage of condemnation from the West over its move to recognise the independence of two Georgian rebel regions at the heart of the conflict that erupted in the ex-Soviet republic.

On Wednesday, a top Russian general warned NATO against violating the Montreux Convention -- which limits the number and type of military vessels in the Black Sea -- and said that Moscow was monitoring developments.

Russia, which sent ships to the coast near Georgia as part of its response this month to Tbilisi's offensive to retake South Ossetia, has said it does not plan to bolster its Black Sea fleet.

The convention, which dates from 1936, sets a weight restriction of 45,000 tonnes on the number of warships that countries outside the region can deploy in the basin.

It provides Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, full control over the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, which separates western Turkey and its biggest city Istanbul from its east.

Debate has often raged about the convention -- Moscow complained during World War II and the Cold War that it was flouted. Its interpretation is complex and is usually left to Turkey.

"The alliance has in no way violated the Montreux Convention since the permission to transit the Turkish straits as required by the convention was applied for in late June," Romero said.

"The ships will stay no longer than 21 days in the Black Sea," she said.

"All these elements show that this exercise does not constitute an increase in tensions, as the Russians are saying."

The military alliance's deployment -- dubbed "Standing NATO Maritime Group One" -- comprises a Spanish vessel, the Admiral Juan de Bourbon, Germany's FGS Luebeck, Poland's General K Pulaski and a US frigate, the USS Taylor.

NATO said that a Canadian frigate, the HMCS Ville de Quebec, was recently detached from the group to escort World Food Programme shipping off the coast of Somalia under Canada's national authority.

It said the ships are currently in Constanta, Romania, will conduct exercises with Bulgarian and Romanian ships, and pay a port visit to Varna, Bulgaria, before leaving the Black Sea.

Romero said NATO knew two US ships were there providing aid to Georgia, but that these were not under alliance command.

She also said that vessels from three NATO nations lying in the Black Sea area -- Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey -- were also there.

"But they are in their home waters," she said.

She added that NATO was in constant dialogue about developments with Turkey.