US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said that US wanted to send humanitarian aid to Georgia also via ships and they would abide by the Montreux Convention.

US to send naval cargo ships - 20 / 08 / 2008 12:55

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said Wednesday that his country wanted to send humanitarian aid to Georgia also via ships and they would abide by the Montreux Convention.

Bryza said that the ships they were planning to send were not warships but naval cargo ships.

A number of news features which appeared in the U.S. press over the past weekend claimed that the U.S. wanted to send the hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort to the Black Sea through the Turkish straits but Turkey had not granted permission.

These ships are said to exceed the limit of tonnage permitted under the Montreux Convention.

However, U.S. authorities later announced that they had not made an official request.

Bryza said the naval cargo ships, they sought permission for passage through the Turkish straits, were within the tonnage range allowed in the Montreux Convention.