The delegation Moscow sent to ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia was clearly well-chosen. Grigory Karasin, for example, the former diplomat (including a spell as ambassador to the United Kingdom, 2000-5) and Sergei Beseda, head of the Federal Security Service’s Fifth Service, especially responsible for penetrating and subverting Ukraine. They certainly seem to be doing a good job of advancing Russia’s interests at the talks.
After Vladimir Putin reportedly acceded to a month-long moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure (which both Moscow and Kyiv are already accusing the other side of breaking), the latest round of talks seem to have led to the acceptance of the other leg of this painfully limited ceasefire, on attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea.
Except that the Russians have made this dependent on a whole series of concessions, lifting controls on its fertiliser and agricultural export sector. This means lifting sanctions on a series of companies and allowing the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) back onto the international SWIFT payment system.
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