The United States announced this Tuesday, March 25 that Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop hostilities in the Black Sea, Washington also claiming to help Moscow to export its agricultural and fertilizer products to the world markets.
Each of the two countries has agreed to “ensure the safety of navigation, to remove the use of force and to prevent the use of commercial ships for military objectives in the Black Sea,” the White House said in two separate press releases reporting on discussions in recent days with Ukrainians and Russians in Saudi Arabia.
Behind the agreements, the fear of the weakening of the sanctions
kyiv is committed to “implementing” Washington’s announcements “good measures” according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two allied countries also agreed to involve “third” countries in the supervision of a truce. The United States also undertakes, with regard to Ukraine, to “support efforts with a view to exchanges of prisoners, the release of civilians and the return of forcibly displaced Ukrainian children”.
Russia can count on the support of the White House to “restore Russian access to the global market for exports of agricultural products and fertilizers, reduce maritime insurance costs and improve access to ports and payment systems for these transactions”, a major grievance of Moscow after the radical sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow had posed as a condition for this agreement on the Black Sea a relaxation of restrictions on its agricultural exports.
The Ukrainian president opposed any “weakening” of international sanctions to Russia, Washington, who said, who said to help Moscow to facilitate access to Russian agricultural products and fertilizers in global markets on Tuesday. “We believe it is a weakening of position and a weakening of sanctions,” said Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference by commenting on this American proposal. This possibility was not “in our agenda, the American part raised it” in negotiations in Ryad, he added.
Set “details”
During the talks, the United States “repeated that President Donald Trump was imperative to end the killings on both sides”. Washington “will continue to organize negotiations between the two parties in order to find a peaceful outcome”, according to an identical paragraph in the two press releases.
The American administration also expressed his “recognition” to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salmane. The Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Roustem Oumerov, immediately called to organize “additional technical consultations” to settle the “details” of the agreements announced by the White House.
He also warned that “any movement” of Russian warships in the Black Sea off Ukraine will constitute a “violation” of the Hostilities Cessation Agreement. A cereal agreement in the Black Sea had enabled Ukraine from July 2022 to July 2023, to export its cereals, vital for world food, despite the presence of the Russian fleet in the area.
Russia, itself a great exporter of wheat and fertilizer, then withdrawn from it, accusing Westerners of not respecting their commitments supposed to soften the sanctions on Russian exports. The Kremlin said on Tuesday “analyze” the result of these discussions. If the “contacts” with the Americans will continue, no “concrete” date has been set for a new meeting, added spokesperson Dmitri Peskov. According to the state agency Ria Novosti, the Russian delegation has left Saudi Arabia.
The fighting continues
Russia is accused by kyiv of playing the watch to take advantage of its advantage on the front. One of the Russian negotiators, Grigori Karassine, said that dialogue with the Americans on Monday had been “intense, not easy, but very useful”. During these discussions where Grigori Karassine represented Russia with Sergei Bonesda, a Russian intelligence framework, “many problems were addressed,” he said. “We are far from having settled everything […] But it seems to me that such a conversation is very timely, “said Grigori Karassine.
A new meeting between the Ukrainian and American teams was held on Tuesday morning in Ryad. Since the start Sunday of these talks involving Washington, Moscow and kyiv, the American shuttle between the belligerents has not given rise to a truce, even partial, or a consensus on a moratorium on certain air strikes.
US President Donald Trump, for pressure, had managed to obtain kyiv’s theoretical agreement for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. But Vladimir Putin, while taking care not to rewind his American counterpart, has listed many requirements and says he wants to limit a truce to only strikes on energy infrastructure.
Donald Trump, who has exerted considerable pressure on kyiv, has so far been indulge in Russia, even if he has mentioned the possibility of new sanctions in recent weeks. Vladimir Putin, whose army is advancing on the ground despite its heavy losses, does not seem in a hurry to conclude an agreement, especially because the Ukrainian forces still control territory in the Russian region of Koursk.
Despite these discussions, the fighting continues. On Monday, a Russian strike made 101 injured, including 23 children, in Soumy, in the northeast of Ukraine, according to the town hall of this city.