The world should not let Vladimir Putin abandon the grain deal

RUSSIA’S BELEAGUERED president took up his pen this week. In the days before a in St Petersburg on July 27th, Vladimir Putin published an article on the Kremlin’s website to justify why he has abandoned the grain deal that ensured safe passage for Ukraine’s crops and fertiliser. Promising to make up the shortfall, he wrote that the “so-called” deal solely enriched Western businesses, and that promises to exempt Russian exports from sanctions had been broken. Pretty much every word was false.