June 5 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday that it saw no prospects for extending the Black Sea grain export deal, which is set to expire in mid-July, Russian news agencies reported.
TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying that it was continuing consultations with the United Nations, and that ship inspections had resumed.
To help convince Russia to back the deal, a three-year pact was also struck last July in which the U.N. agreed to help Moscow carry out its food and fertiliser shipments.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to quit the deal, complaining that obstacles still remain to its own exports of food and fertiliser.
The agreement last came up for renewal on May 18 and Russia agreed at that point to extend it for 60 more days, to July 17.
Persons:
Mark Trevelyan, Kevin Liffey
Organizations:
TASS, United Nations, RIA, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
Russia, Geneva, Turkey, Ukraine, Moscow, Ukrainian, Pivdennyi