UN chief concerned Russia will quit Black Sea grain deal in July

FILE PHOTO: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a press conference at the United Nations complex in Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya May 3, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he is concerned that Russia will on July 17 quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal known as the Black Sea grain initiative - brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July last year - if obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer shipments are not removed.