BATUMI, Georgia -- A U.S. military ship loaded with aid supplies docked at a port in southern Georgia on Wednesday, and Russia sent three missile boats to a different Georgian port, which is being held by separatists.

The dockings came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recognized the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, which Georgia answered Wednesday by recalling all but two diplomats from its embassy in Moscow.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas, carrying 34 tons of humanitarian aid, docked in the Black Sea port of Batumi, south of the zone of this month's fighting between Russia and Georgia. The arrival avoided Georgia's main cargo port of Poti, which is controlled by Russian soldiers.

The U.S. Embassy in Georgia had said the ship was headed to Poti but then retracted the statement. Zaza Gogava, head of Georgia's joint forces command, said Poti could have been mined by Russian forces and contained several sunken Georgian ships hit in the fighting.

Russian troops have established checkpoints on the city's outskirts, and a U.S. ship docking there could be perceived as a direct challenge.

Russia sent its tanks and troops into Georgia this month after Georgia cracked down on the separatist, pro-Russian province of South Ossetia.

Also Wednesday, the Russian missile cruiser Moskva and two smaller missile boats anchored at the port of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, about 180 miles north of Batumi.

The Russian navy said the ships were involved in peacekeeping operations.

Western nations say the Russian military presence in Poti is a violation of a cease-fire, and Russian commanders said they were alarmed by the number of NATO warships sailing into the Black Sea, conceding that NATO vessels outnumber the Russian ships anchored off Georgia's coast.

"What the Americans call humanitarian cargoes -- of course, they are bringing in weapons," Medvedev told the BBC in an interview Tuesday. "We're not trying to prevent it."

The White House dismissed the claim that the Pentagon is shipping weapons. The U.S. has often used military ships to deliver humanitarian aid, including after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.