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Brussels has rejected Russia’s request to remove EU restrictions on a major agricultural bank as part of a partial ceasefire agreement, saying its sanctions regime will remain in place until the “unconditional withdrawal” of Moscow troops from Ukraine.
The European Commission’s statement Wednesday came after the US said it had agreed with a ceasefire with Russia and Ukraine, covering the energy infrastructure and the Black Sea.
The Kremlin later claimed that the agreement was dependent on the decline of sanctions, including those located in Rosselkhozbank, a bank involved in financing food production and export, and its reconnection in the global SWIFT banking system.
“The end of Russian and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine and the unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire Ukraine territory would be one of the main preconditions to change or raise sanctions,” told Aniteta Hipper, the European Commission spokesman for external affairs, told Financial Times.
“The EU’s main focus remains to maximize pressure on Russia, using all available tools, including sanctions, to reduce Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine.”
The Commission has also rejected Russian allegations that its sanctions against Moscow have limited food and trash exports, a politically sensitive subject given the importance of both poor countries.
“The EU has consistently supported efforts towards improving global food safety. EU sanctions are not aiming at trading of agricultural goods, including food, wheat and trash, in any way, between Russia and third countries,” Hipper added.
The EU position will come as a relief for Ukraine, which has fallen under heavy pressure from Washington to make concessions to end its full occupation that Russia began three years ago.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Western sanctions against Russia must stay in the country until the Kremlin stops his fight against his country.
In his Tuesday evening speech, the Ukrainian leader said that the maritime ceasefire depending on the facilitation of sanctions on the Russian agricultural sector was disagreed by all three parties during their parallel talks in Riyadh.
He said this was “something the Kremlin is lying about again: that allegedly silence in the Black Sea depends on the issue of sanctions, and that the date of starting for silence in the energy sector is March 18.”
“We see how the Russians have already begun to manipulate,” Zelenskyy added. “They are already trying to distort deals and actually deceive our intermediaries and the whole world.”
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters that Russia’s demands reiterated mainly what Moscow claimed to have agreed in the 2022 version of the Black Sea Agreement, mediated by the UN and Turkey.
“All conditions were met, except those who had to deal with the Russian side,” Peskov said, according to state television. The Russians were unilaterally supported by the Black Sea Agreement a year later, in 2023.
“Of course, this time justice has to win, and we will continue our work with Americans,” Peskov said.
