Battle off the coast of Abkhazia
The Skirmish off the coast of Abkhazia was a naval engagement between warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy and the Georgian Navy during the Russo-Georgian War. The engagement According to Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet left their base in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on the evening of 8 August. On 10 August RIA Novosti – quoting a source in the Russian Navy headquarters – reported that a group of Russian warships had arrived at the maritime border with Georgia in the eastern part of the Black Sea. According to the source, the vessel Moskva, accompanied by a patrol vessel and supply ships, travelled from Sevastopol. They would join three large landing ships that had earlier arrived in the area from Sevastopol and from Novorossiysk. "The purpose of the Black Sea Fleet vessels' presence in this region is to provide aid to refugees", the source said. The source denied media reports that the warships were enforcing a blockade of Georgia's coast. "A blockade of the coastline would mean war with Georgia, and we are not in a state of war with Georgia." Abkhaz officials said that several Georgian warships