A top Russian general has accused NATO of setting up a naval force in the Black Sea under the 'cover' of aid deliveries to Georgia.

"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.

Nogovitsyn made the remark after Pentagon said several US ships, led by the destroyer USS McFaul, were heading for Georgia for deliveries of humanitarian aid.

NATO battleships entered the Black Sea on Thursday for military exercises with Romania and Bulgaria. The alliance has rejected any links between the move and the South Ossetia conflict.

Nogovitsyn said the US move would not help 'stabilize the situation' in South Ossetia, which saw days of military conflict between Russia and Georgia after Tbilisi began an offensive to regain control of the breakaway region.

Nogovitsyn rejected Georgia's claims that Moscow was not complying with a France-brokered peace agreement between Moscow and Tbilisi to end the conflict.

He said Russian forces will patrol and keep control over Georgia's main commercial port of Poti, maintaining that this would not violate the agreement.

The six-point peace plan allows Russian peacekeepers to take 'additional security measures' in a buffer zone near South Ossetia until international peacekeepers are deployed.

Nogovitsyn also accused Georgia of preparing guerilla attacks in South Ossetia, where a Russian peacekeeping force of about 2,600 troops are stationed.

AKM/DT