Russia seeks Western lifting of sanctions on agricultural exports

Kremlin said on Wednesday that dialogue with the United States is intensifying, as the two sides announced the outlines of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea after talks in Saudi Arabia.

„We are continuing contacts with the United States and very intensively (...) And we are satisfied with how effectively this is going on,– Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Both Moscow and Kiev agreed to the ceasefire after separate discussions with Washington in Saudi Arabia. However, Russia said it would only enter into force if the West lifted certain sanctions affecting its agricultural exports.

„As for the Black Sea initiative, it can be enabled once certain conditions are met,“ Peskov said, referring to Russia's demands.

Russia wants the West to lift sanctions on the state-owned agribusiness lending institution „Rosselkhozbank“ as well as on other financial institutions linked to food and fertiliser.

The White House statement on the ceasefire did not mention the lifting of sanctions. It only mentioned that the ceasefire would help Russian exports of agri-food and fertilisers to reach the global market.

The West has not directly hit Russia's agriculture, but Moscow has long complained that sanctions targeting Rosselkhozbank or restricting cargo shipments have hampered its exports.

Moscow also accused Ukraine on Wednesday of crossing Russia's energy infrastructure overnight, despite President Vladimir Putin last week ordering it to abide by an agreement not to strike such targets for 30 days.

Russia's defence ministry claimed that Ukraine had launched drones at gas tanks in annexed Crimea, as well as at an energy facility in the Bryansk region.

„The Kyiv regime, while continuing to damage Russia's civilian energy infrastructure, is in fact doing everything it can to disrupt the Russian-American agreements,Moscow says the 30-day ceasefire has been in place since 18 March, but that ceasefire monitoring remains unclear, Russia continues to strike new blows against Ukraine, and US and Russian announcements contradict each other.

The United States said that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed only to begin work towards ceasefire terms for energy facilities.