Paul Moss

And in return, he's got an easing of the biggest and most important U.S.

sanction against his economy.

It's much harder to understand why America is doing this.

This easing of sanctions is likely to reduce global potash prices.

That will perhaps be good for American farmers and also lower consumer prices for agricultural goods.

But

The other point I'd make is that since it's good for Belarus, it's also good for Russia.

And it eases in particular the burden that Russia faces in helping to subsidize the Belarusian economy, which is very dependent on Russia, even as Belarus itself.

continues to provide a large range of very important war-related services to Russia.

Belarus is aiding the war and doing everything really that Russia asks of it, except for committing its own troops.

It follows from that that anything that eases the economic pressures on Belarus is helpful for Russia too.

And Russia, of course, will have been deeply involved

in these negotiations between America and Belarus.

So Putin is also watching carefully for the kind of deal that he might be able to hope for.

Former Ambassador Nigel Gould-Davies.

The man, once known as Prince Andrew, has been told he won't be investigated over a recent allegation involving his accuser, Virginia Giuffre.

A newspaper had claimed that he tried to dig up dirt on Miss Giuffre, the woman who said she'd been forced to have sex with him by Jeffrey Epstein.

More than that, it said, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he's now known, had given this dirt-digging task to his bodyguard, a publicly paid official.

But the police have now said they won't be investigating this allegation any further.

A decision Ms Jouffre's family said was a disappointment.