Russia and Ukraine agree to ceasefire in Black Sea, US to ease sanctions

(CLO) Russia and the United States have reached an agreement on a Black Sea initiative that focuses on ensuring maritime safety and prohibiting the use of commercial ships for military purposes, according to a statement on the results of talks between the two sides in Saudi Arabia published on the Kremlin's website on Tuesday.

"According to the agreement between the Presidents of Russia and the United States, both sides have committed to implementing the Black Sea initiative. This initiative includes ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, refraining from the use of force and prohibiting the use of commercial vessels for military purposes, and establishing appropriate control measures through inspection of such vessels," the statement said.

The Russia-US talks were held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 24. They lasted more than 12 hours. According to Russian presidential adviser Yury Ushakov, the negotiators also focused on resuming the Black Sea grain initiative.

The Black Sea Initiative, also known as the grain deal, is intended to help get Ukrainian grain out of Black Sea ports and normalize exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets.

The new agreement will help the parties increase cargo transportation across the Black Sea. Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin/TASS

The talks also had another important outcome when the US pledged to seek to lift sanctions on Russia's agricultural sector and fertilizer exports, which have long been a Russian demand.

Russia said the new deal would require easing sanctions including restoring links between Russia's agricultural export bank and the international payment system SWIFT, which could require European approval.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern about the outcome of the Russia-US talks, saying in his nightly online address: "Unfortunately, even now, even today, on the very day of the talks, we see that the Russians have begun to manipulate."

Ukraine and Russia have both said they will rely on the United States to enforce the agreements, while expressing skepticism that the other side will abide by them.

“We will need clear guarantees,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “And given the sad experience of agreements only with Kiev, guarantees can only come from an order from Washington to Zelenskyy and his team to do one thing and not another.”

The agreements were reached after parallel talks in Saudi Arabia. Separate phone calls last week between Mr Trump and Presidents Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin resulted in both sides halting attacks on each other’s energy facilities.

“We’re making a lot of progress,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, adding that there was “tremendous hostility” in the talks. “There’s a lot of hatred, as you can see, and it allows people to get together, mediate, arbitrate and see if we can stop it. And I think that will work.”

Hoang Hai (according to TASS, WH, Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nga-va-ukraine-dong-y-ngung-ban-tren-bien-den-my-se-noi-long-cam-van-post340071.html