Russia rejects Trump’s new ceasefire unless sanctions lifted | World | News

Vladimir Putin has shot down proposals to implement a new ceasefire deal in the Black Sea, unless Donald Trump agrees to have international sanctions on Russia lifted.

The critical demand is just one of several levelled by the Russian leader, who also demanded access to global food and fertiliser markets, as well as the country’s reintegration into international banking systems, in order to implement a maritime truce with Ukraine.

The White House formally announced the Black Sea ceasefire on Tuesday, with the promising development coming after 12 hours of hard fought talks between Russia and the US in Saudi Arabia.

However, critics have drawn attention to the fact that the agreement goes further than a similar agreement with Ukraine – and has seen the US commit to helping Russia to remove the myriad of sanctions that have been levelled upon it globally as a result of their invasion of Ukraine back in 2022. 

Among these sanctions, Washington has officially pledged to help lift restrictions on agriculture and fertiliser exports. Yet even despite Washington’s generosity in meeting Russian demands, Moscow have still stood firm and reiterated that no ceasefire would come into force until after the lifting of sanctions restrictions.

The delay is just the latest in a long list of tactics implemented by the Kremlin in recent weeks, who have seemingly sought to delay and drag out peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine – an accusation that has been levelled by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy and his allies in Europe.

The latest round of talks in Saudi Arabia initially came to no fruition, when Russia candidly rejected a 30-day ceasefire offered by the US and Ukraine, even despite a lengthy phone-call between Presidents Putin and Trump.

Returning to the table on Monday, the negotiations were supposed to focus on a Black Sea ceasefire, yet somehow devolved into Russia issuing a fresh set of demands, which included more territory in Ukraine.

While the developments have been minimal at best – and certainly at a hefty price, the Trump administration has responded positively to the progress made in brokering a peace deal.

In two separate statements issued on Tuesday, the White House revealed that both Ukraine and Russia had agreed to “to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea”.

According to Mr.Zelensky, the deal would come into effect “immediately”, however the Kremlin argued this was not the case, and instead insisted that it would be conditional only on the lifting of sanctions.

One of the key demands from the Kremlin was the end to restrictions placed on the Russian Agricultural Bank and other “financial institutions involved in international trade of food”, while also demanding that Russia once again be allowed to join the SWIFT international payment system.

Many Russian banks had their connection to the payment system severed shortly after the start of the war back in March 2022, with 7 of Russia’s biggest banks initially being cut off, before the country’s largest bank Sberbank, was also cut off in the 6th round of sanctions in May 2022.

With peace talks still teetering on a knife edge, neutral nation Turkey, which has maintained ties with both Russia and Ukraine, has been tasked with monitoring the situation on the Black Sea, at Russia’s suggestion.

A previous UN-brokered deal allowed millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports to be shipped safely from Ukraine’s ports, but Russia had complained that it was not beneficial for its trade, reports The Telegraph. 

With the deal now tenuously in place, Mr.Zelensky has indicated that any sign of movement from Russian warships into the “eastern part of the Black Sea” would be treated as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Speaking on Tuesday, he said: “If the Russians violate this, then I have a direct question for president Trump. If they violate, here is the evidence – we ask for sanctions, we ask for weapons.”

While the deal does remain fragile, Mr.Zelensky did stand by his decision to agree to the truce in the meantime, as he told reporters in Kyiv: “It is too early to say that it will work, but these were the right meetings, the right decisions, the right steps.”

“No one can accuse Ukraine of not moving towards sustainable peace after this.”

Meanwhile, Nico Lange, of the Center for European Policy Analysis think tank, said: “Russia had already been defeated in the western Black Sea and Ukraine had fought successfully to open up the trade routes from Odesa.

“With today’s agreement, Russia gives almost nothing, but receives relief from some sanctions and new income for its war machine.”

Yet while Ukraine was optimistic about the prospect of swift journey to peace, a Kremlin source apparently had other ideas, telling the Moscow Times that Russia was wilfully dragging out negotiations in order to claim as much Ukrainian territory as possible.

“Time is currently on our side, and we’ll try to make the most of it,” one source told the paper. While another revealed that the negotiators had “been tasked with nitpicking every comma.”