Russia, Ukraine agrees to “ensure safe navigation” to stop fighting in the Black Sea, Trump administrator announced
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force and prevent commercial vessels from being used for military purposes,” the Trump administration said on Tuesday.
White House announces agreement in separate statements after U.S. officials hold separate bilateral talks This week in Riyadh with delegations from Ukraine and Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was his country’s understanding that the Black Sea Agreement came into effect immediately, and the Russian government also issued a statement confirming that it had agreed to the clause.
Zelenskyy noted that if Russia violates the terms of the agreement, the White House statement did not stipulate any lawsuit, saying that in this case, Ukraine will directly raise more weapons and sanctions against Russia.
“In accordance with the agreement between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, the Russian and American sides agreed 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 in a statement published by the Russian state-run news agency tass.
In exchange for Black Sea transactions, it said the United States will “help restore access to Russian agriculture and fertilizer exports to the world market, reduce the cost of transportation insurance, and expand access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”
As stated in Kremlin, the terms of the deal appear to be based primarily on the previous Black Sea Cereals Initiative, a limited ceasefire facilitated by the United Nations and Türkiye. Russia leaves in 2023. Moscow claims that the United States and other Ukrainian partners have not continued its termination in 2023 by blocking exports of certain Russian agricultural products.
