Reacción a "Reaction: Putin announces that he is suspending Russia's participation in the nuclear disarmament treaty signed with the United States"

Legally, the suspension of the START III treaty announced by President Putin means a halt to the strategic arms reduction commitments agreed in 2010; however, it does not imply its termination, i.e. a resumption of its implementation would be possible. 

While this is bad news for nuclear non-proliferation efforts, its significance must be put into perspective for two reasons. The first is that START binds only the United States and Russia, the major nuclear powers, and leaves out the rest, in particular China, whose nuclear capabilities are not known for certain. The second is that the US was on the verge of abandoning it during the Trump presidency because it does not want to be legally bound in the face of proliferation by Beijing, its strategic adversary.  

Finally, compliance with its provisions today partially hides the need for both sides to eliminate some of their obsolete strategic weapons and replace them with new-generation ones that the US is already preparing; something that Russia cannot renounce in order to maintain nuclear parity.