Kremlin Says Various Conditions Must Be Met Before Black Sea Security Deal Can Be Activated 

Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA) 
Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA) 
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Kremlin Says Various Conditions Must Be Met Before Black Sea Security Deal Can Be Activated 

Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA) 
Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA) 

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a number of conditions must be met before a Black Sea maritime security deal negotiated with the United States can be activated, pointing to an earlier agreement which it said saw Moscow's needs ignored.

The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to cease fighting in the Black Sea and pause attacks against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.

While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

Russia wants the reconnection of its state agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payments system. That and other steps could require agreement from European countries.

"As for the Black Sea grain initiative, it can be activated after a number of conditions are implemented," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"These are the same conditions that were included in the (original) Black Sea Initiative...all the conditions of which were fulfilled except for those concerning the Russian side. So, of course, this time round justice must prevail and we will continue our work with the Americans."

Moscow in 2023 withdrew from the original deal, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye in 2022, complaining that obstacles to its own food and fertilizer exports had not been eased as promised under the terms of that agreement.



At Least 12 Dead in Indonesia Bus Crash

People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
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At Least 12 Dead in Indonesia Bus Crash

People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)

A bus carrying 34 passengers sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving others injured, police said.
The inter-province bus was on its way to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, from Medan in North Sumatra province when its brakes apparently malfunctioned near a bus terminal in West Sumatra’s Padang city, said Reza Chairul Akbar Sidiq, the director of West Sumatra traffic police.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying that police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep hills in Padang after the brakes malfunctioned.
The 12 bodies, including those of two children, were mostly pinned under the overturned bus, Sidiq said. All the victims, including 23 injured people, were taken to two nearby hospitals, he said.
Thirteen of the injured were treated for serious injuries, Sidiq said. The driver was among those in critical condition.
Local television footage showed the mangled bus on its side, surrounded by rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured victims and the dead.
Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.