Russia Ties Black Sea Truce to Lifting of Some Sanctions

The Kremlin said Tuesday that a U.S.-brokered agreement to halt military activity in the Black Sea would only take effect once certain sanctions were lifted, including those targeting its state-owned agricultural lender.

The White House said earlier that Russia and Ukraine had both agreed to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea, following separate talks with the two sides in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. side did not mention lifting sanctions in its statement, only that it would help restore “access to the world market” for Russia’s agricultural and fertilizer exports.

The Kremlin said the truce would enter into force after sanctions on Rosselkhozbank [Russia’s state-owned agricultural lender] and other financial institutions involved in providing international trade operations in food and fertilizers were lifted.

It also called for those institutions to be re-connected to the SWIFT network, an international payment system that some Russian banks have been blocked from using.

The West has not directly sanctioned Russian agriculture, but Moscow has long complained that restrictions on shipping insurance and its state lender Rosselkhozbank — which provides financing to agribusiness — have frustrated its exports.

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