Nato has til Sept. 19 to Leave Black Sea ?
? BRUSSELS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - NATO said a group of four allied warships was leaving the Black Sea as planned on Wednesday after conducting what it called a long-planned schedule of exercises. "The Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG 1) successfully completed its planned visit and is leaving the Black Sea today," the alliance said in a statement of the deployment, which prompted Russian accusations of a NATO naval build-up close to Georgia.
"Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9
The United States was pursuing a delicate policy of delivering humanitarian aid on military transport planes and ships, apparently to illustrate to the Russians that they do not fully control Georgia’s airspace or coastline.
The policy has left American and Russian naval vessels maneuvering in close proximity off the western coast of Georgia, with the Americans concentrated near the southern port of Batumi and the Russians around the central port of Poti.It has also left the Kremlin deeply suspicious of American motives.Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said at a briefing in Moscow that under the agreement, Turkey, which controls the straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, must be notified 15 days before military ships sail into the sea, and that warships could not remain longer than 21 days.
"The convention stipulates a limited number of vessels," he said.
"That is, the same state cannot deploy a certain group without any limit."
He said any sustained NATO deployment would require rotating ships through the straits.It was unclear on Wednesday how many NATO ships were currently in the Black Sea.
Snippet From NY Times
Russia warns Turkey on U.S. ships in Black Sea
Russia said U.S. ships could only stay in the Black Sea for 21 days according to the Montreux Convention, and warned if they do not leave by then Turkey would be responsible.
Russia's deputy military chief Anatoly Nogovitsyn said the NATO warships' entrance to the Black Sea is a "serious threat to our security," Hurriyet daily reported on Thursday.
He said under the Montreux Convention, signed in 1936 on the status of the Turkish Straits, the warships can only stay in the Black Sea for 21 days.
"If the NATO ships continue to stay in the Black Sea after the expiration of 21 day-period, then I would like to remind you that Turkey would be responsible," he added.
The U.S. warships are spearheading a humanitarian aid mission to Georgia, a U.S. ally that wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Clashes erupted in the Caucasus after Russia responded to Georgia's military operation to regain the control in the breakaway region South Osstia.
The U.S. ships are carrying nuclear missiles that can hit Russian targets as far away as St. Petersburg, Nogovitsyn said, according to Hurriyet. Russia has dispatched its own ships to track the U.S. vessels.
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