The released statement says Riyadh agreed to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea and that the US will “facilitate the restoration of access for Russian agricultural and fertiliser exports to the global market, reduce the cost of shipping insurance, and expand access to ports and payment systems for such transactions”.
At the same time, Moscow says these clauses will come into force after sanctions are lifted from Rosselkhozbank and other financial institutions involved in securing international food and fertiliser trade operations, their connection to SWIFT, the lifting of sanctions from food and fertiliser producers and exporters, and the lifting of restrictions on port services and sanctions from Russian-flagged vessels involved in food and fertiliser trade.
The Kremlin says Russian Federation and the US have agreed to work out measures to ban strikes on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities for a period of 30 days starting 18 March 2025.
On 23-25 March, US representatives held bilateral talks at the technical level with the Ukrainian delegation in Riyadh.
On 24 March, also in Riyadh, the US delegation held talks with Russian representatives, which lasted more than 12 hours. Subsequently, the Kremlin said that this meeting was of a technical nature – “with a deep dive into details”, so its content is definitely not subject to disclosure. Although, as Russian media reported the day before, a statement was to be issued on 25 March based on the results of the talks.
Earlier, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that the talks would focus on the possible resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which “concerns the safety of navigation in the Black Sea waters.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that in addition to the resumption of the grain agreement, other “nuances” and “aspects” of ending the war would be discussed.
The White House said today that Saudi Arabia had agreed with Ukraine on safe navigation in the Black Sea and to develop a mechanism to ban strikes on energy facilities, among other things. Washington did not mention the lifting of sanctions restrictions on Russia in the statement.
At the same time, the statement following the talks with the Russian side noted that the United States would help restore Russia’s access to the global market for exports of agricultural products and fertilisers.