Prospects of grain deal extension not very good - Peskov

MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - The message sent by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Russian President Vladimir Putin contains reasoning in favor of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, however, the prospects of its extension remain in question, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"President [Putin] has received a message from Mr. Guterres, which was handed over through [Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov. It presents a rather substantive set of arguments, and describes the efforts taken to implement the deal. Still, as they say, it never got off the ground," Peskov said.

Russian fertilizer suppliers "are experiencing the same problems," Peskov said. "The same consequences remain unavoidable, there are quite negative restrictions on our suppliers of fertilizers to the global market," he said.

"The part of the deal concerning our suppliers has yet to be fulfilled. In this regard, the prospects [of the deal's extension] are not very good," Peskov said in response to a request for comment on his vision of the grain deal situation and the prospect of its extension.

In this regard, Peskov reminded reporters about Putin's meeting with Andrei Guryev, head of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers, which took place on Thursday. "The president met with Guryev yesterday. The president asked him about the current state of affairs. Guryev said that the state of affairs was exactly what it was before. There has been no improvement," Peskov said.