Georgian coast guard to train aboard US warship

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgian coast guard personnel began a weeklong training program Saturday aboard a U.S. destroyer in the Black Sea, a Georgian official said.

The training is likely to irritate Russia, which has criticized U.S. aid shipments to its tiny southern neighbor and alleged they could have been a cover for delivering weapons - a claim the United States has denied.

There was no immediate confirmation from U.S. officials of the destroyer's involvement in the Black Sea training.

A deputy chief of the Georgian border guard department, David Gulua, said the U.S. ship was not in Georgia's territorial waters.

Gulua said Georgian personnel boarded the USS Mason on Saturday and would be training through Friday. He did not say how many personnel were taking part.

Georgia's navy and coast guard suffered heavy damage during the country's war with Russia in August. The Russian military sank Georgian ships in the port of Poti and looted or destroyed equipment there.

Several U.S. warships have since visited Georgia to deliver humanitarian aid. Russia denounced the visits and claimed they could have been a cover for weapons deliveries. U.S. officials deny the claim.

The war began Aug. 7 with a Georgian offensive to regain control of the breakaway province South Ossetia. Russia responded by sending in troops, which quickly routed the Georgian military.

Under an EU-sponsored cease-fire deal, EU monitors were deployed to Georgia on Wednesday, and Russian forces must leave Georgian territory by Oct. 11.

But Russia plans to keep 3,800 troops in South Ossetia and the same number in another breakaway province, Abkhazia - a presence U.S., NATO and the European Union say violates its obligation under the cease-fire.

Some in Georgia also fear Russia will slow its withdrawal and use an explosion Friday in the South Ossetian provincial capital as a pretext.

Georgia's Interior Ministry accused Russian intelligence services on Friday of organizing the car bomb blast near Russian military headquarters in Tskhinvali as an excuse to delay next week's pullout.

Russian officials said the blast killed seven Russian troops, including the chief of staff for Russian forces in the region.

South Ossetia's acting interior minister, Mikhail Mindzayev, said the explosion also three civilians, and that and another Russian soldier was missing and believed dead.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation into the bombing, and told the military to take all necessary steps to prevent attacks against troops and civilians, the Kremlin said.

The Investigative Committee under the Russian Prosecutor General's office blamed Georgian special forces for staging the explosion to destabilize the situation, spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
MyWay