UN Secretary-General Guterres is still waiting for Putin’s response on the extension of the grain deal

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is still waiting for a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin to a proposal to extend the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports. This was stated by UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

According to Dujarric, Guterres is waiting for a response to a letter he wrote to Putin earlier this week outlining his proposal. The spokesperson added that discussions are ongoing, including exchanging messages on WhatApp and Signal messengers.

Guterres wrote to Putin on July 11 asking him to extend the Black Sea Agreement in exchange for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT international payment system, Reuters sources said.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Putin said that he had not seen Guterres’ letter, but that Russia had been in contact with UN representatives.

Earlier, Putin voiced the conditions under which Russia is ready to continue participating in the grain deal.

The UN offers Russia to extend the deal in exchange for the connection of its subsidiary “Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payment system.

Tags: UN, Black Sea grain deal