NATO warships depart Black Sea

BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Four NATO warships departed the Black Sea Wednesday after being deployed in the region for a planned multinational exercise.

NATO officials announced the departure of the Standing NATO Maritime Group One, or SNMG 1, from the Black Sea, where the group had been operating since Aug. 21.

The departure Wednesday follows international guidelines that limit Black Sea naval deployments to 21 days for non-Black Sea navies as set forth in the Montreux Convention, NATO reported.

Russian government officials had largely criticized the presence of NATO warships in the Black Sea because of their high-profile presence just over a week after major military operations ended between Russia and Georgia in their conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. NATO officials say the operations were pre-planned exercises as part of routine visits to both Bulgarian and Romanian ports.

"This has contributed towards developing NATO's maritime interoperability with its member nations within the Black Sea, and the exercises conducted there have reinforced NATO's maritime capability in this strategically important area of focus," Vice Admiral Pim Bedet, deputy commander, Allied Maritime Component Command Headquarters Northwood, said in a statement.