US, Georgia to kick off naval exercises

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A US guided missile destroyer has dropped anchor in Georgia's port of Batumi, on the Black Sea, ahead of joint naval exercises.

USS Stout anchors at Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi July 14, 2009. The USS Stout and her crew will participate in combined training exercises with ships and the Coast Guard of Georgia. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili

The exercises came one day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's first visit to South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region that Russia recognized as independent in the conflict's aftermath.

A welcoming ceremony was held for the American sailors at the port of Batumi.

The naval exercises, due to begin on Wednesday, will be held in Georgia's territorial waters between the ports of Batumi and Poti, not far from the coast of the Moscow-supported breakaway region of Abkhazia. Two vessels of the Georgian Coast Guard will participate.