In reaction to “highly provocative” remarks made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, US President Donald Trump claims he has directed two nuclear submarines to “be positioned in the appropriate regions.”
Trump claimed that he took action “just in case these inflammatory and stupid remarks are more than just that.” Words have great power and frequently have unexpected repercussions; hopefully, this will not be one of those times.
In accordance with US military convention, he did not specify the location of the two submarines’ deployment.
In response to Trump’s recent threats to impose severe sanctions on Moscow unless it agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine, Medvedev has threatened the United States.
The two nations with the most nuclear weapons in the world are the US and Russia, and both have nuclear submarine fleets.
In his tweet from Friday, Trump said: “Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions.”
In his Truth Social post, the US president did not specify if he was speaking of nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines.
“A threat was made, and we didn’t think it was appropriate,” Trump told reporters later that day. I must therefore exercise extreme caution.
I take that action in order to keep our people secure. A former Russian president made a threat. Additionally, we will defend our citizens.
Although the Kremlin has not yet publicly addressed the matter, Trump’s remarks caused a precipitous decline in Moscow’s stock market.
Recently, there have been numerous personal insults on social media between Trump and Medvedev.
It comes after Trump gave current Russian President Vladimir Putin a new deadline of August 8 to end the war, which Putin has not indicated he will fulfil.
Trump had previously set a “10 or 12” day deadline on Monday. He warned to impose harsh taxes on Russia’s oil and other exports earlier in July if Putin did not put a stop to the war within 50 days.
Trump was accused earlier this week of playing “the ultimatum game with Russia” by Medvedev, the former president of Russia from 2008 to 2012.
Medvedev stated that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war” in a post on X.
Additionally, he said that “Russia didn’t care” and called Trump’s previous July ultimatum “theatrical”.
On Thursday, Medvedev issued a warning on Telegram about a “dead hand” threat, which some military analysts saw as a reference to the codename of Russia’s system for controlling retaliatory nuclear attacks.
Friday wasn’t the first time Trump responded to Medvedev’s comments. On Thursday, he described Medvedev as “the failed former president of Russia, who thinks he’s still president”.
Trump also warned Medvedev to “watch his words”, adding that “he’s entering very dangerous territory!”
Medvedev supports Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022, and is an outspoken critic of the West.
