By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday the U.S. had agreed to help it lift restrictions on food, fertilizer and shipping companies in exchange for agreeing to a maritime security deal in the Black Sea.
The United States further said it had also agreed with Russia and Ukraine to implement a ban on military strikes on each other’s energy installations.
If implemented, the deals would represent the clearest progress yet towards a wider ceasefire that Washington sees as a stepping stone towards peace talks to bring an end to Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.
What are the main aspects of the agreements?
WHAT DOES RUSSIA GET?
The United States said it “will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions”.
Russia said it had agreed with Washington “to ensure the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, which includes ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, the non-use of force and the prevention of the use of commercial vessels for military purposes while organizing appropriate control measures through the inspection of such vessels”.
The Kremlin said the deal on maritime safety would come into force after a series of conditions were met – including the lifting of restrictions and sanctions on a major agricultural bank, exporters of food and fertilizer and on Russian vessels.
Those include the lifting of restrictions on state agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank “and other financial organizations involved in ensuring international trade in food (including fish products) and fertilizers, their connection to SWIFT, and the opening of necessary correspondent accounts”.
The conditions include the removal of curbs on trade finance operations and of sanctions on companies producing and exporting food (including fish products) and fertilizers, as well as lifting on the work of insurance companies with shipments of food (including fish products) and fertilizers.
Other conditions include the lifting of restrictions on the maintenance of ships in ports and sanctions against Russian-flagged vessels involved in food and fertilizer trade.
Restrictions would also be removed on the supply of agricultural machinery to Russia, as well as on other goods involved in the production of food (including fish products) and fertilizers.
WHAT DOES UKRAINE GET?
Washington said it had agreed with Ukraine “that the United States remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children”.
WHERE DID THIS DEAL COME FROM?
The deal is effectively a return to the Black Sea Initiative, struck in 2022 with the help of Turkey and the United Nations, and to an accompanying three-year memorandum of understanding under which U.N. officials agreed to help Russia get its food and fertilizer exports to foreign markets.
Russia withdrew from the initiative in 2023, complaining that its own food and fertilizer exports faced serious obstacles, though Moscow is not currently facing serious problems getting its grain to market by the Black Sea.
While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Mark Heinrich)
