Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he was surprised that humanitarian aid was delivered to “aggressors” and not to the real victims of the conflict.

“If we are talking about humanitarian aid, it should be provided to the victim of the aggression, which is South Ossetia,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent on September 2. “We do not understand what U.S. ships are doing off the Georgian coast; but it’s a matter of taste and that’s our American colleagues' decision.”

“Another issue is,” he continued, “why this aid is being delivered with warships armed with modern missile systems.”

He said that Russia’s reaction to the presence of NATO vessels in the Black Sea would be “calm, without any hysteria.” “But there will be a response,” Putin added.

He also brushed off western calls for a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia proper, saying: “We have no armed forces in Georgia at all.”

“There are only peacekeepers,” Putin said. “There are only 500 of them ... and their only job is to maintain security.”