US experts met separately with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in Riyadh to make the Back Sea ceasefire agreement that took place over a three-day span.
Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea by avoiding strikes, the United States said. As per sources, US experts met separately with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in Riyadh to make the agreement that took place over a three-day span. The White House issued separate joint statements about the talks with Ukraine and Russia.
It said that both sides “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.”
Black Sea ceasefire- An apparent revival of the 2022 agreement
Details of the prospective deal are yet to be released, but it appears to mark a revival of a 2022 agreement to ensure safe transit via Ukraine’s Black Sea ports that was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey and was halted by Russia the following year.
Russia had said the agreement failed to ensure the safety of its Black Sea exports. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised comments Tuesday that Moscow is open to the revival of the agreement but warned that Russian interests must be protected.
In an apparent reference to the Russian demands, the White House statement on the talks with Russia noted that the US “will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”
The White House statement also mentioned that the parties agreed to develop measures for implementing an agreement reached in President Donald Trump’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ban strikes against energy facilities in Russia and Ukraine.
The three days of meetings, which did not include direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, are part of an attempt to hammer out details on a partial pause in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine.
It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire, which Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week — with both sides continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles.
(With inputs from the Associated Press)
