Russia waits for U.S. Directives Before Signing Black Sea Agreement with Ukraine.

Moscow, Russia:  
On Tuesday, Russia announced its enthusiasm to establish a new agreement concerning the safety of maritime operations in the Black Sea—a potential pathway towards a ceasefire with Ukraine—but elaborated that this would only occur if the United States instructed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to adhere to it.  

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that such an instruction would provide the necessary assurances that Russia seeks. 

Both of these parties blamed each other for the breakdown of a previous agreement in 2023, which aimed to protect merchant shipping in the Black Sea following Russia's deployment of tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.  

"We will need clear guarantees. And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelenskiy and his team to do one thing and not the other," Lavrov stated in televised comments.  

"And it seems to me that our American partners have received this signal. They understand that only Washington can achieve positive results in stopping terrorist attacks, stopping shelling of civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure not related to the military-industrial complex."

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