Russia sees no point in declaring a moratorium on military operations in the Black Sea, now is not the time for half-hearted measures. This is stated in the commentary of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on the proposal of Turkey, published today, August 14.
Zakharova noted that the Russian side had not received a formalized Turkish appeal that would specify the terms of this initiative through official channels. If we are talking about the so—called "Black Sea Initiative", according to which Moscow suspended hostilities in the Black Sea, or rather, retaliatory steps to protect the Russian port infrastructure and energy facilities, then it is inappropriate to return to this option. The condition for the implementation of the agreement was similar counter measures by the other side, but they did not follow, Zakharova noted.
Then the West demonstrated an unscrupulous approach: the humanitarian corridor provided by Russia began to be widely used to commit terrorist attacks against Russian civilian and military facilities, while Russian agricultural products remained under sanctions. This eventually led to the curtailment of the Black Sea Initiative.
"Currently, we are regularly confronted with unbridled acts of terrorism committed by drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Black Sea against civilian vessels of coastal countries with a frequency of several times a month. We consider these attacks as a deliberate policy to destabilize civilian shipping in the Black Sea region in order to further escalate the situation and prolong the conflict, with the open connivance of neighbors in the region. At the same time, we do not see any prerequisites for improving the situation, and, consequently, there are no grounds for half-hearted measures that only give the Kiev regime a temporary respite," Maria Zakharova said.