Medvedev: US Taunting Russia With Ships

Dmitry Medvedev accused the US of baiting the bear today by using military vessels 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,” mused the Russian president, theorizing that the US was actually using the trips to rebuild Georgia’s army.

NATO, meanwhile, brushed off accusations that it was deploying more warships to the Black Sea, saying the vessels were merely on routine exercises. The US has sent three warships to Georgia, the most recent and largest of which landed yesterday at the Russian-controlled port of Poti. At the same time, President Bush is contemplating breaking off a nuclear trade deal with Russia as punishment for the Georgian invasion. (More Russia stories.)