STORY: Russia might be interested in returning to talks on Black Sea grain deal: U.S. envoy
DATELINE: Aug. 2, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:10
LOCATION: UN Headquarters
CATEGORY: POLITICS
 
SHOTLIST:
1. various of press briefing room
2. SOUNDBITE (English): LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. representative to the United Nations
3. various of journalists
4. various of press briefing room
 
STORYLINE:
 
There are signs that Russia might be interested in returning to talks on the Black Sea grain deal, a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday.
 
SOUNDBITE (English): LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. representative to the United Nations
"We have seen indications that they might be interested in returning to discussions. So we will wait to see whether that actually happens. What we have been told is that they are prepared to returning to discussions, and we haven't seen any evidence of that yet. But I suspect that they know if they want to get their fertilizer out to market, they want the continuation of the efforts to find a way to make the payments, that they are gonna have to return to this deal."
 
Russia and Ukraine signed separately with Türkiye and the United Nations the Black Sea Grain Initiative in Istanbul in July 2022, which allowed Ukraine to export grain and other agricultural products from its Black Sea ports.
 
Moscow suspended its participation in the agreement on July 17, 2023, saying that it would return to the deal as soon as the Russian part of the agreements is fulfilled.
 
She noted that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is continuing his efforts to find a path forward to bring Russia back into the deal.
 
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from UN Headquarters.
(XHTV)