When the Pro Quo Is Ignored

Russia has said that it will not be renewing Black Sea grain deal.

This not surprise.  This was supposed to be a deal which, among other thing would have allowed Russia to export agricultural products and fertilizer, was never observed by the US and EU.

When one end does not hold up their end of the deal, it's not surprising that the counter-party ends the deal:

The UN secretary general, António Guterres has said he deeply regrets Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea grain deal, saying hundreds of millions of people facing hunger as well as hard-pressed consumers will pay the price for the Kremlin’s move.

The deal was designed to alleviate a food crisis sparked by a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports that had frozen millions of tonnes of grain exports around the world, much of it to developing countries.

………

The secretary general added that he had secured two US waivers that exempted Russia from sanctions for food exports, a British waiver on insurance on Russian shipping and an EU exemption that allowed the unfreezing of Russian fertilisers. In addition, a bespoke arrangement had been set up to allow the subsidiary of a Russia agriculture bank to access the international Swift payment system.

The Russians do not believe that either the US or the British will hold up their end of the bargain.

History reinforces this belief.