Russia and the United States will talk about restarting a deal to keep merchant ships safe in the Black Sea, the Kremlin said on Monday. However, Moscow believes that important parts of the previous agreement were never followed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned that the "Black Sea Initiative," also called the grain deal, was part of the discussions between Russian and U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia on Monday. He said that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested talking about the Black Sea deal, and Putin agreed to the discussion. "This is primarily about the safety of navigation," Peskov said when asked what the Black Sea deal amounted to. "But if you remember the initiative in its previous form, there was quite a large part of the obligations to our country that were not fulfilled last time. Therefore, this will also be on the agenda today."

Turkey and the United Nations helped negotiate the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2022. This agreement allowed Ukraine to safely export nearly 33 million metric tons of grain across the Black Sea, even during the war. However, Russia pulled out of the deal in 2023, claiming that its own food and fertiliser exports were facing major difficulties. Despite this, Russia is not currently struggling to export its grain through the Black Sea. To persuade Russia to support the Black Sea deal, a three-year agreement was made in July 2022. As part of this, the U.N. promised to help Russia export its food and fertilisers to global markets. Although Western sanctions do not directly target Russian food and fertiliser exports, Russia claims that restrictions on payments, transportation and insurance have made shipping difficult.

Russia specifically wants to restart its ammonia exports and reconnect its state agricultural bank, Rosselkhozbank, to the SWIFT international payment system. When asked about Trump's comments on progress toward a possible settlement for Ukraine, Peskov said that Russia and the U.S. both agree on the need to work towards ending the war. However, he added that many details still need to be discussed and resolved. "There is indeed a common understanding here," Peskov said. "In general, of course, there are still a lot of different aspects related to the settlement to be worked out."