Free Republic

The destroyer Barry ran aground Thursday as it was preparing to dock at a port in the Black Sea, the Navy confirmed Friday. The incident happened at about 10:30 a.m. local time, as the Norfolk-based ship was entering the Turkish port of Samsun. The ship ran aground in silt as it was maneuvering in the port’s turning basin, about 200 yards from the pier. A harbor pilot was on board at the time, a Navy official said. Tugs were able to free the ship with assistance from Turkish coast guard divers, and the vessel is currently moored at a Samsun...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - A U.S. destroyer arrived in the Georgian port city of Poti Saturday but was not carrying any humanitarian or military aid, the U.S. Embassy said.

GEORGIA CONFLICT 2008 SEPTEMBER 13, 2008 - Russians withdraw from Poti At long last, and after much negotiation and foot dragging by the Russians, hundreds of Russian personnel withdrew from positions Saturday in western Georgia and Georgian officials indicated that Russia met a deadline for a partial pullout agreed to with French President Sarkozy. Russian soldiers and armored vehicles withdrew from six checkpoints and temporary bases in the Black Sea port of Poti and other areas nearby, Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said. "They have fulfilled the commitment" to withdraw from the area by Sept. 15 under an...

Russian troops withdrew from Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti today, in adherence to a deadline set for the first phase of a withdrawal brokered by France. Troops in armoured personnel carriers and trucks were observed withdrawing from positions on the outskirts of Poti. Russian forces hold other positions on the way to the nearby town of Senaki but were seen as they prepared to leave yesterday. Russia sent forces deep into Georgia last month after repelling an attempt by Tbilisi to retake the breakaway, pro-Russian South Ossetia region. On Monday, Moscow agreed to withdraw its troops from Georgia's heartland...

The US is negotiating with Georgia and Turkey to establish a naval base at one of the two key Georgian ports of Batumi or Poti, reports say. Turkey, in an attempt to avoid political tension with Russia, has not officially revealed its position regarding the plan, said Gruzya Online, a Russian-language internet site. Russia had previously announced its intention to station its own special forces at the Georgian ports. One of the responsibilities of US Special Forces in the region is to ensure the security of an oil pipeline passing through Georgia.

ABOARD THE USS MOUNT WHITNEY (AP) — The flagship of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean fleet has delivered 17 tons of humanitarian aid to a strategic Georgian port — and Russian troops have been watching every move. (snip) U.S. Naval officers say a Russian warship trailed the American ship across the Black Sea. They also say Russian military forces onshore were keeping a close eye on the Mount Whitney from a position just 3 miles away...

A US Navy flagship carrying humanitarian aid yesterday steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by US warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand-off could intensify in the Black Sea port of Poti. The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US Vice-President, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi this week. After meeting President Saakashvili, Mr Cheney vowed...

A US warship anchored at the disputed Georgian port of Poti as Russia declared it would not challenge Nato vessels bringing relief to the beleaguered democracy through the Black Sea. The USS Whitney, flagship of America's Mediterranean Sixth Fleet, arrived in the port which was bombed and occupied by Russian forces during the incursion into Georgia last month. A small Russian detachment remains dug in on the outskirts of the town. America had previously aborted an attempt to dock the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul at the port, fearing an accidental clash with the Russians. Russia said it would not authorise...

A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti.

A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti. The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US vice-president, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi yesterday, in which he vowed to bring Georgia into the Nato alliance. Russia sees any such move as a...

US navy ship steams into port where Russian troops stationed James Hider in Tbilisi A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti. The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US vice-president, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi yesterday, in which he vowed...

Kiev/Moscow - Elements of Russia's Black Sea fleet shifted locations on Wednesday in an possible move to avoid a confrontation with a growing NATO warship flotilla near Georgia. Russian naval vessels operating off of Georgia's coastline had moved from a station in the vicinity of the Georgian port Poti into "Abkhazian territorial waters," said Sergei Menialo, commander of Russia's Novorossisk naval base, according to an Interfax news agency report. The shift took a group of some six to eight Russian warships that had been patrolling near the Georgian port of Poti out of the path of US warships reportedly planning...

Excerpt - TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The United States has canceled plans to try to dock a military ship carrying humanitarian aid in the Georgian port of Poti, where Russian forces are posted on the outskirts, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Wednesday. ~ snip ~

TBILISI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - U.S. warships have scrapped a plan to deliver relief supplies to Georgia's flashpoint port of Poti on Wednesday, a source close to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said. "The ships will not dock in Poti tomorrow," the source told Reuters, referring to a planned mission by the USS McFaul and another vessel. Their presence would have been sure to enrage Russia, which has troops patrolling the port following a brief war with Georgia. "There was a possibility that the McFaul might go to Poti but no-one has given us a final decision. We're not sure...

TBILISI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Two U.S. warships will deliver humanitarian supplies on Wednesday to the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti where Russian troops have been mounting patrols, the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said on Tuesday.

GORI, Georgia (AP) — A top Russian general on Saturday said his country's forces will continue to patrol a main Georgian Black Sea port city even though it lies outside the 'security zones" where Russia claims it has the right to station soldiers on Georgian territory. The statement by deputy head of the general staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, reported by Russian news agencies, came a day after Russia said it had pulled back forces from Georgia in accordance with a cease-fire agreement that Russia interprets as allowing it a substantial military presence. On Saturday afternoon, several thousand protesters waving Georgian...

Russian troops on August 20 entered the Black Sea port city of Poti for the second day in a row, reportedly stationing columns of armed vehicles at the city’s main entrance and in an outlying district. The Georgian Ministry of the Interior states that Russian troops are "digging into" the port city, a strategic site and the location of a recent $200 million port development project. Although reports from the ground differ, Poti City Administration Chief Roin Gigiberia told EurasiaNet that Russian soldiers have started cutting potholes into the city’s streets and have set up check points on a bridge...

ISTANBUL (AFP) — One of three US ships carrying relief supplies to Georgia cleared Turkish straits and headed for the Black Sea Friday, where it was due to arrive in the Georgian port of Poti in a few days. The two other ships -- the Coast Guard cutter Dallas and the Mount Whitney, currently being loaded up in an Italian port -- are also bound for Georgia with humanitarian aid.

POTI, Georgia, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Russian troops on Friday were digging trenches at a checkpoint on the main road just outside the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, a Reuters photographer said. The Reuters photographer saw about 30 Russian troops and four armoured personnel carriers at the checkpoint on the road which leads to the town of Senaki. Soldiers were digging a trench with an excavator, the photographer said. Russia has promised to complete a partial pullback of troops from Georgia by the end of Friday but said an unspecified number of "peacekeeping forces" would stay inside the country,...

By AP/BELA SZANDELZSKY (POTI, Georgia) —Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main port city on Thursday, a day before Russia promised to complete a troop pullout from its ex-Soviet neighbor. Armored personnel carriers and troop trucks blocked the bridge to the Black Sea port city of Poti, and Russian forces excavated trenches and set up mortars facing the city. Another group of APCs and trucks were positioned in a nearby wooded area. Although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promised that his forces would pull back by Friday, Russian troops appear to be digging in, raising concern about...