AFP
August 12, 2008 Tuesday 3:15 PM GMT

US military instructors were in Georgia at the beginning of the conflict with Russia, Moscow's ambassador to NATO claimed Tuesday, adding that some fighters killed could prove to be Americans.

"At least 127 American military instructors were in Georgia at the beginning of the conflict. There were joint training sessions that happened right before the start of the conflict," Russian ambassador Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Brussels.

He added that it wasn't clear if any of the Americans were still in the country when the fighting broke out.

However he spoke of "dark-skinned Georgians found dead."

"If we need to do DNA tests, we will do it," said Rogozin.

He was talking after the 26 NATO nations decided not to call an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Russia council Tuesday, a fact which Rogozin blamed on the US.

The NATO nations, in the Allliance's North Atlantic Council, condemned Russia's "excessive, disproportionate use of force," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.