Russians are happy. They know Obama needed a win and were determined to make him pay for it. They got many of the concessions they wanted including an acknowledgment that they are again to be considered a super power on par with the US. The two countries will have equal number of nuclear weapons.

"Russian nuclear weapons are being reduced anyway, so one would like the Americans to reduce theirs at the same time. And this can be done only through treaties," military commentator Pavel Felgengauer said on Gazprom-owned, but editorially independent, Ekho Moskvy radio."If, as a result of this treaty, they (USA) will also reduce the level of their nuclear weapons, while Russia is forced to do so, or is inevitably doing so anyway, this is good news for Russia," he said.

Moreover, they will not have to put up with the" constant presence" of inspectors at the plant in Russia's city of Votkinsk, where Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles are produced, Aleksey Arbatov, head of the Center for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations pointed out. Arbatov told Russia Times that Russian diplomacy"has won a great victory" by successfully exploiting Obama's need for a diplomatic victory.

Obama's minions praise Obama's personal involvement. After boxing him in by announcing the deal was done, Russians are careful not to play it cool for fear of alerting the Senate. After all, they are also aware of the count down towards November.