Brussels- NATO has completed its naval exercises and will pull a force of four warships out of the Black Sea, the alliance confirmed Wednesday as it rejected Russian claims that it was forcing a confrontation in the wake of August's Russian-Georgian war.

"The Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG 1) successfully completed its planned visit and is leaving the Black Sea today in accordance with the Montreux Convention," a statement released in the alliance's Brussels headquarters said.

"As part of its annual program, SNMG 1 was deployed to the Black Sea on 21 August 2008 with the aim of promoting interoperability among NATO nations ... It conducted routine port visits and naval exercises with Bulgaria and Romania," the statement said.

The force of four frigates - one each from Spain, Germany, the United States and Poland - is set to pass through the Bosphorus straits and operate in the Mediterranean, the statement said.

The Montreux Convention, signed in 1936, gives Turkey - a NATO member - control over the access of military ships to the Black Sea. Under its rules, foreign warships can stay in the sea for a maximum of three weeks.

The NATO fleet's entry into Black Sea waters came less than two weeks after Russia's war with Georgia, in which Russia's Black Sea fleet played a prominent role.

Moscow had portrayed the flotilla's presence in the Black Sea as a military buildup following the war. NATO insisted that the long- planned mission was in no way linked to the war. (dpa)