(Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English) MOSCOW. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Moscow says that the involvement of Georgia by the United States into a military operation against Iran will pose an additional threat to Russia's national security.

"If it decides to carry out rocket and bomb attacks against Iran, the U.S. will need loyal allies. And if Georgia is involved in this war, this will pose additional threats to Russia's national security," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview that will be published in the Izvestiya newspaper on Thursday.

When asked what he thought about a theoretical situation whereby Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili confused U.S. far-reaching plans to carry out rocket and bomb attacks on Iran from Georgian territory, Patrushev said: "If the U.S. does decide to begin an armed aggression against Iran, then Georgia is not the only place, from which they can theoretically attack the country. But your version too has the right to exist."

"And the U.S. president's speech at the United Nations General Assembly contained words of gratefulness to Georgia and Ukraine for courage and sacrifice," said the secretary of the Russian Security Council.

A top general says Russian forces will begin to withdraw from a buffer zone in Georgia on Wednesday and should be out within 24 hours.

Georgia is to welcome an American guided missile destroyer to the country's port of Poti as the number of such disputed visits increase.

On Friday, the USS Barry (DDG-52) is expected to berth at the seaport on a 'good will' visit to be the fifth US warship to have docked at the Georgian ports since Georgia fought a losing battle with Russia in August.

Russia claims the trips serve ulterior purposes saying the vessels could be taking weapons to Georgia in line with Tbilisi's recent cause of regaining its firepower following the war with Russia thus gathering the required strength for another attack.

The accusations come to reinforce the previous ones in which Moscow claimed that Washington had been training the Georgian forces for the August attack which was launched so Georgia could regain control over the independence-leaning republic of South Ossetia.

Upon the September arrival of the USS Mount Whitney at the same port for 'humanitarian purposes', the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Washington of fueling the 'aggression' of the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's regime.

"Naval ships of that class can hardly deliver a large amount of aid. Such ships of course have a hold for keeping provisions for the crew…. How many dozens of tons of aid can a ship of that type deliver?" Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrei Nesterenk had said about the Mount Whitney's visit.

The Georgian defense ministry would send its delegates to pay homage to the USS Barry which is expected to remain in the area until Monday.

A Dutch government investigation has found that a Russian cluster bomb killed a television cameraman in Georgia in August, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Russia denied using cluster munitions during its brief war with Georgia in August, but human rights groups say both sides unleashed the widely denounced weapons.

Dutchman Stan Storimans, 39, died while filming the fighting in Gori, Georgia, during the conflict over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

A Dutch investigative team sent to the spot two weeks later to gather forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts concluded Storimans was killed by a munition "propelled by a type of rocket that is only found in Russia's military arsenal," the Foreign Ministry said.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen called the findings "very serious."

"I have made that clear to the Russian authorities," he said in a statement. "Cluster munitions must not be used in this way. There were no troops present in Gori and innocent civilians were killed."

Cluster bomblets are packed into artillery shells or bombs dropped from aircraft. A single container typically scatters some 200 to 600 of the mini-explosives over an area the size of a football field.

They have been criticized by human rights groups because they kill indiscriminately and unexploded ordinance poses a threat to civilians similar to that of land mines.

Georgia has acknowledged using used ground-launched cluster munitions near the Roki tunnel, which connects South Ossetia with Russia.

In May, more than 100 countries agreed in Dublin, Ireland, to ban cluster bombs within eight years. But neither Georgia nor Russia signed the accord.

Verhagen said the Netherlands plans to raise the matter with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which addresses arms control issues. Both Russia and Georgia are members.

"The Netherlands will call for a political statement to be issued in which member states pledge not to use cluster weapons in situations of this kind," the ministry said.

Storimans, a veteran newsman, was killed while filming on a large square in Gori, which was nearly deserted. Several Georgian civilians died in the same attack, according to reporter Jeroen Akkermans, who was working with Storimans. Akkermans suffered minor injuries.

His employer, RTL Nieuws, is ultimately owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia said on Thursday that Russia had deployed 2,000 extra troops in South Ossetia in the past week and was preparing to stir up more trouble in the breakaway territory.

Moscow dismissed the charges.

"In the past week, Russia increased the number of troops by 2,000 to 7,000 staff," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference.

"We fear Russia is preparing provocations in South Ossetia," he said.

Asked for his reaction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said all of Moscow's troop deployments to the region were openly declared.

"It's very difficult to comment on official declarations of Georgian representatives because there is very little truth in them," Lavrov said in Moscow.

Utiashvili said dozens of Russian armored vehicles had been positioned in the disputed Akhalgori region, the southeastern corner of South Ossetia which Georgia insists should be returned to Tbilisi's control under a French-brokered ceasefire deal.

Russia sent troops and tanks into Georgia in August to repel an offensive by the Georgian military to retake pro-Russian South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.

Russia's forces drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia and then pushed further into Georgia.

The West condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" and Russian troops have since pulled back from buffer zones around South Ossetia and a second breakaway region, Abkhazia.

The Kremlin has recognized both rebel regions as independent states and said it will station 7,600 troops there to provide security -- a figure Lavrov repeated on Thursday.

A 225-strong European Union mission is monitoring the ceasefire, patrolling the former buffer zone around South Ossetia up to its de facto border.

Russia says the mission will not be allowed to operate inside South Ossetia.

Lavrov also called for better cooperation from the European monitors, whom he held responsible for the security of the two regions, to prevent what he said were continued violations of ceasefire agreements by the Georgian side.

"Russia is concerned they are taking a light-hearted view of the situation of what is happening there," Lavrov said of the EU observers.

"This is a dangerous game with fire," he added.

Georgia's Interior Ministry says an explosion killed the mayor of a small town near the separatist region of Abkhazia.

Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili says authorities found an antenna near the blast site and suspect the explosives were detonated by remote control. Mujhava Mayor Gia Mebonia was inspecting a house damaged by overnight shelling when the blast hit early Saturday.

Video taken after the blast shows several people wounded on the ground and screaming villagers fleeing. The ministry spokesman blamed the attack on Abkhaz separatists and their Russian backers. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman in Moscow says he had no information on the blast.

Georgia launched an attack in August to regain control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia repelled the attack and drove deep into Georgia.

Russia Deploys the Black Sea Fleet

Russia has sent an official notification to NATO’s general secretary, Hoop Scheffer, proposing that "all upcoming military exercises planned in Georgia should be postponed or canceled.”