In late August, following the conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia, several U.S. warships docked at the Georgian port of Batumi delivering humanitarian cargo. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and several top officials said the ships, along with other NATO vessels, delivered weaponry to rebuild Georgia's damaged military.
"I deny the allegations I heard that the U.S. is delivering weapons to Georgia under the guise of humanitarian aid," John Beyrle, speaking in Russian, said on Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"This is insulting. We do not do this, it is purely humanitarian aid."
He also said no discussions are currently underway on restoring Georgia's military, which has received substantial U.S. support since pro-Western leader Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in the South Caucasus state in 2004.
"We are not holding talks on rearming Georgia, but are focusing on deliveries of humanitarian aid," the envoy said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Defense said the Pentagon would send a team to Tbilisi later this week to assess what military support should be provided to Georgia.
The ambassador also criticized Russia's move on August 26 to recognize breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries, two weeks after it had expelled Georgian troops from South Ossetia following Tbilisi's August 8 ground and air offensive against the republic.
The diplomat said Moscow made a mistake in recognizing the republics, and that he had information that around 7,000 Russian peacekeepers are to remain in the republics.
"We are calling on Russia to withdraw its troops," he said.
Beyrle said Russia was violating an agreement drawn up and signed by Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to end the conflict.
"We believe that the agreement signed by Medvedev obliged Russia to pull its forces back to the positions prior to hostilities, and that the presence of observation posts between [the Georgian bases of] Poti and Senaki, and the creation of buffer zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia constitute a breach of commitments," the diplomat said.
Medvedev and Sarkozy agreed on Monday that observation posts between Senaki and Poti would be withdrawn in not more than seven days and that Russia's full withdrawal from Georgia will come not more than 10 days after the European Union deploys at least 200 observers in the "buffer zone" near South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which under the new agreement is set to happen by October 1.
Beyrle rejected any parallels between the disputed republics and the ex-Serbian province of Kosovo, which has been recognized since February by 46 states including most EU countries and the United States.
"Kosovo was recognized nine years after a military conflict and following a long period of UN administration rule," he said.
