An expert assessed the prospects of the EU joining the Black Sea initiative

The European Union cannot meet the conditions set by Russia for the implementation of the Black Sea deal for political reasons, Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the Center for Mediterranean Studies at the Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia. In particular, Russia is demanding reconnection to SWIFT.

For the parties' reasons: the Russian Federation and the United States have made progress in the "Black Sea Initiative"

It became known what Moscow and Washington agreed on during 12-hour consultations in Riyadh.

"The European Union is not interested not in the resuscitation of the deal itself, but in fulfilling the conditions necessary for its launch, which Russia has put forward. Europe cannot abruptly change its political course and go for a potential easing or lifting of some sanctions against Russia, while in the United States the political leadership has changed, and with it the strategy of conducting foreign policy," the expert said.

He added that currently the EU's "sluggishness" is due to the strict conditions that Brussels has set as determinants for the start of a dialog on the lifting of sanctions. This primarily concerns the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, which will not be accepted by Moscow.