Russia ties a Black Sea truce to lifting of some sanctions
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A Ukrainian serviceman manning a gun on a patrol boat in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in February 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MOSCOW – Russia said on March 25 that a US-brokered agreement to halt military activity in the Black Sea would take effect only once certain sanctions were lifted, including those targeting its state-owned agricultural lender.
The White House had said earlier that both Russia and Ukraine agreed
The US side did not mention lifting sanctions in its statement, only that it would help restore “access to the world market” for Russia’s agricultural and fertiliser exports.
The Kremlin said the truce would “enter into force after the lifting of sanctions on Rosselkhozbank (Russia’s state-owned agricultural lender) and other financial institutions involved in providing international trade operations in food and fertilisers”.
It also called for those institutions to be reconnected to the Swift network – an international payment system that some Russian banks have been blocked from using.
The West has not directly sanctioned Russian agriculture, but Moscow has long complained that restrictions on shipping insurance and Rosselkhozbank have frustrated its exports.
The Kremlin said it also agreed to work with the US on the logistics of a 30-day energy truce announced by President Vladimir Putin last week, which Kyiv has accused Moscow of repeatedly breaking.
“Russia and the US agreed to develop measures to implement the agreements of the presidents of the two countries to ban strikes on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities,” it said.
The Kremlin said it agreed that third countries could take part in overseeing aspects of any future truce.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters earlier that countries such as Turkey could monitor aspects of it. AFP
