Russia-U.S. talks fail to reach resolution of poultry trade dispute

MOSCOW - A U.S. delegation failed to reach a new agreement on poultry imports to Russia and is leaving the country to obtain further information requested by Moscow, the U.S. Embassy said July 9. <br> <br> An embassy spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were remaining issues &#34;to clarify that require additional information from our side.&#34; He declined to name specifics. <br> <br> The Russian Agriculture Ministry has warned that it will ban poultry imports from the U.S. beginning Aug. 1 without new veterinary certificates, saying previous certificates will only be accepted until July 31. Washington has lobbied for the deadline to be pushed back to Oct. 1. <br> <br> The Russian government imposed a ban on U.S. poultry imports in March, citing concerns about sanitary conditions at U.S. plants and cases of salmonella in imported chicken. The ban was lifted a month later, after the U.S. promised to tighten export controls, but new bureaucratic hurdles have delayed a full resumption of imports. <br> <br> The embassy spokesman called the talks between the two sides &#34;productive&#34; and said &#34;considerable progress&#34; had been made toward agreeing on the new certificates.