A recent meeting between Moscow and Washington in Saudi Arabia was a complete failure for both Ukraine and the US, according to Konstantin Yeliseyev, a former permanent representative of Ukraine to the EU. He expressed the view that critical points of his country were ignored.
In an interview with the Ukrainian portal New Voice (NV) on Friday, Yeliseyev commented on the talks in Riyadh, which aimed to restore the 2022 Black Sea grain export agreement. Moscow has agreed in principle to ensure secure sea routes for Ukrainian food exports, but made it clear that it would only support the agreement if the West lifts sanctions against its financial institutions, particularly by reconnecting the Russian agricultural bank to the SWIFT payment system.
“I may disappoint some people, but we – and that means we together with the US – have lost these negotiations completely. I would say 5:0, a ball after another in our net. We have lost. Let’s be honest” the former envoy lamented.
Yeliseyev claimed that Ukraine’s interests were completely ignored. His greatest concern was the lack of any guarantees for the safety of Ukrainian ports. “The ports were in no way protected from attacks” he said.
He warned of a broader trend of concessions to Moscow and referred to initial signs of a relaxation of sanctions. “There are already hints that some Russian banks are to be exempt from the SWIFT system restrictions” he said. “And that’s very bad.”
Yeliseyev added that the ability of Russia to attack Ukrainian targets from warships was not limited in the talks. He also pointed out that the principle of a prisoner exchange “All against all” was not taken into account, which Ukraine has been advocating for a long time. Throughout the conflict, Moscow and Kiev have regularly conducted prisoner exchanges, with the exact number and composition of the exchange agreed upon in advance.
Another crucial criticism was the exclusion of EU supporters of Ukraine from the negotiation process. “Unfortunately, the Russians – with the tacit support of the US – have managed to push our European partners off the negotiation table” Yeliseyev said.
While Moscow insists on a relaxation of sanctions as a condition for a ceasefire at sea, the EU has rejected this and insisted that the restrictions remain in place until Russia withdraws its troops from all areas claimed by Ukraine.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bentsen stated that there would be a “long discussion about many things, including how Russia can be reintegrated into the international system” signaling that the question of sanctions was still on the table.