Russian General Staff: Russian Black Sea Fleet tracking NATO ships

Генштаб: Корабли Черноморского флота РФ приступили к слежению за действиями натовских кораблей в Черном море

Naval vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet continue to carry out the task of securing Abkhazia's coast. The statement was made at a Moscow press conference by Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, reports an IA Regnum correspondent.

According to Nogovitsyn, as a result of the recent increase of NATO member country vessels in the Black Sea, the Russian fleet has begun to track the movements of these ships.

Nogovitsyn reminded journalists that in 1936, a convention [i.e. the Montreux Convention] was established concerning the status of the Black Sea. This document defines the number of naval vessels and duration of their stay for countries who do not have territory bordering the Black Sea. According to this convention, NATO can no longer continue to increase its fleet on the Black Sea. The maximum tonnage of these ships is not to exceed 45 thousand tons. The maximum duration of stay in the Black Sea is 21 days, after which a rotation must take place.

Georgia points out NATO's mistakes and requests arms from the alliance

Грузия указывает на ошибки НАТО и просит оружия у Альянса

Georgia's Ambassador to NATO Revaz Beshidze stated on August 12th that NATO "has made a greater mistake by not allowing Georgia to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) of the alliance this year." As Reuters reports, after a meeting with 26 representatives from the countries of the alliance in Brussels, Beshidze stated that the organization had given Russia "a green light" to attack Georgia.

"This is our firm position, and it has only solidified after the Russian attacks. The big mistake was not allowing Georgia and Ukraine join MAP in Bucharest," he emphasized, declaring that the recent events in Georgia "were caused by this mistake." He also reported that he requested a delivery of arms from NATO, primarily new locating stations which had been destroyed by Russian aircraft. In response, the Secretary General of NATO stated that the alliance "had received a series of requests from Georgia for aid, which will be considered." The Georgian Ambassador also expressed regret that the positions of "many NATO countries are very far from the coordinated position of the other governments."

IA Regnum