"Under the cover of needing to deliver humanitarian goods, NATO countries continue to boost their naval grouping," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of general staff, told a news conference in Moscow.

"In addition to the Spanish and German frigates that entered the Black Sea basin on August 21, yesterday a Polish frigate and a destroyer of the US navy passed the Bosphorous," he said.

"I don't think that this will help stabilise the situation in the region."

NATO says it is holding long-planned exercises, involving US, German, Spanish and Polish vessels, in the Black Sea and that this is not linked to the conflict in Georgia.

The exercises, which will include visits in Bulgaria and Romania, began on Thursday and are due to end on September 10.

A US frigate is due to join in the exercises later this week, a NATO spokeswoman said.

In addition, the US navy is sending several ships, led by the destroyer USS McFaul, to Georgia with what the Pentagon says are deliveries of humanitarian aid.

Russia on Friday said it had withdrawn most troops from inside Georgia to two Russian-controlled separatist regions in the north of the country.

However, Western capitals and Georgia say Russia is violating a peace accord by keeping some troops deployed in strategic areas.

earlier related report
West piles pressure on Russia for full Georgia withdrawal
The West on Sunday ratcheted up pressure on Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia, with the EU announcing a crisis summit as a US warship arrived at a Georgian port.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, had served notice he was ready to convene a special summit if Russia failed to pull back its troops from Georgia.

European leaders are to meet in Brussels on September 1 to discuss the future of EU relations with Russia and aid to Georgia, a statement from Sarkozy's office said.

A US Navy destroyer carrying relief supplies arrived at a Black Sea port in Georgia in a sign of US support for its ally that provided a conspicuous display of NATO military might.

The USS McFaul dropped anchor off Batumi, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the Russian-occupied port of Poti, the first of three ships carrying aid to help Georgia deal with an estimated 100,000 displaced people.

A top Russian general on Saturday accused NATO countries of using humanitarian aid as "cover" for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea, heightening tension in the aftermath of the conflict.

A US coastguard ship passed through the Turkish straits on Sunday en route for Georgia while the USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the US Mediterranean Sixth Fleet was to set sail for the Black Sea at the end of the month.

Russia withdrew tanks, artillery and hundreds of troops from their most advanced positions in Georgia on Friday, saying it had fulfilled all obligations under a French-brokered peace agreement.

But Russian troops still control access to Poti, south of the Moscow-backed rebel region of Abkhazia, and have established other checkpoints around South Ossetia, where the conflict began.

The six-point peace plan negotiated by France has been interpreted differently by Russia and the West, with Russia claiming it has the right to leave peacekeepers deep inside Georgia in a buffer zone.

France, Britain, the United States, NATO and other Western powers have demanded Russia pull back further.

In further fallout from the conflict, a train carrying fuel from Azerbaijan exploded just west of Gori in central Georgia, creating a noxious cloud of black smoke visible from kilometres away.

Georgia's interior ministry said the explosion on the rail track, a vital east-west link across Georgia, was the result of a mine laid by retreating Russian troops. No casualties were reported.

Acting as head of the European Union, Sarkozy had telephoned his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday and asked him to withdraw his forces from a road linking Poti to Senaki in western Georgia.

"No withdrawal has been mentioned today. The Russians are keeping all their previous illegal checkpoints," Georgian National Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia told AFP.

An AFP reporter saw Russian troops holding at least six positions in an 80-kilometre area around Poti on Sunday.

Lomaia said Russian forces were also maintaining eight positions around the separatist region of South Ossetia in central Georgia, including one a few kilometres from Gori on the main road into the region.

Russian troops poured into Georgia on August 8 to repel a Georgian attempt to regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which is backed by Moscow.

After smashing Georgia's small US-trained army in South Ossetia, Russian troops then fanned out through Abkhazia, another pro-Moscow breakaway region in the west, and pushed far into Georgian territory.

Moscow retains full control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and says it has the right to establish a buffer zone beyond taking in stretches of the main east-west highway linking Tbilisi to Poti.

The speedy military victory over Georgia, which is pressing for membership of NATO, stunned Western powers and plunged relations between Russia and the West to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

Analysts see Georgia's pro-Western path and determination to join NATO as key issues in the conflict, with Russia angered by the prospect of another neighbouring country being part of the Western military alliance.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called for stronger efforts for his country to join NATO on Sunday, saying Ukraine shares Georgia's "pain" in its conflict with Russia.

Some parts of Georgia were flickering back to life, with the previously deserted streets of Gori bustling with traffic.

"People are coming back bit by bit," said Gori resident Tariel Japaridze, who stayed in the city throughout its bombardment.

"But we are still scared. How can we be sure there is not going to be another war? The Russian troops have only gone back 10 kilometres outside the city," he said.

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