Russia Says NATO Using Aid As Cover

Moscow: A top Russian general accused NATO on Saturday of using humanitarian aid deliveries to Georgia as "cover" for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea.

"Under the cover of needing to deliver humanitarian goods, NATO countries continue to boost their naval grouping," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of general staff, told a news conference in Moscow.

"In addition to the Spanish and German frigates that entered the Black Sea basin on August 21, yesterday a Polish frigate and a destroyer of the US navy passed the Bosphorous," he said.

"I don't think that this will help stabilise the situation in the region."

NATO says it is holding long-planned exercises, involving US, German, Spanish and Polish vessels, in the Black Sea and that this is not linked to the conflict in Georgia.

The exercises, which will include visits in Bulgaria and Romania, began on Thursday and are due to end on September 10.

A US frigate is due to join in the exercises later this week, a NATO spokeswoman said.

In addition, the US navy is sending several ships, led by the destroyer USS McFaul, to Georgia with what the Pentagon says are deliveries of humanitarian aid.

Russia on Friday said it had withdrawn most troops from inside Georgia to two Russian-controlled separatist regions in the north of the country.

However, Western capitals and Georgia say Russia is violating a peace accord by keeping some troops deployed in strategic areas.