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Russian president accuses West of provocation
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the West on Saturday of acting provocatively in and around the Black Sea, where the United States is using warships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:28 September 6, 2008
Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the West on Saturday of acting provocatively in and around the Black Sea, where the United States is using warships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.
"I wonder how they would feel if we now dispatched humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean, suffering from a hurricane, using our navy," Medvedev said, adding that a whole US fleet had been dispatched to deliver the aid.
The United States has used warships to ferry relief supplies to Georgia after the brief but intense war with Russia in early August, in part to send a signal to Moscow.
Its biggest ship yet arrived on Friday, when the USS Mount Whitney dropped anchor off Georgia's Russian-patrolled port of Poti.
Allegation denied
Nato has also rejected talk of a buildup of its warships in the Black Sea, saying their recent presence in the region was part of routine exercises.
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Russia has accused US warships of rearming Tbilisi's defeated army, a charge dismissed as "ridiculous" by Washington.
Medvedev was speaking at a meeting of his advisory state council, which meets regularly and which comprises regional governors. Medvedev said he had summoned the state council to discuss changes in Russia's foreign and security policy after the conflict in Georgia.
"The South Ossetian conflict showed that Russia will not allow anyone to make an attempt on the lives and dignity of its citizens, its peacekeepers," he told officials gathered in the gold-and-white St Alexander Hall in the Kremlin palace.
"Russia is a state [whose interests] will now be taken into account," he added.
Medvedev had earlier set out five principles of Russia's foreign policy, including a readiness to abide by international law and a claim of special interests in specific areas around the globe.
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