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03-08-2025
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to “be positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to “highly provocative” comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Trump said he acted “just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances”.
He did not say where the two submarines were being deployed, in keeping with US military protocol.
Medvedev has recently threatened the US in response to Trump’s ultimatums to Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face tough sanctions.
Russia and the US possess the most nuclear arms in the world, and both countries have a fleet of nuclear submarines.
In Friday’s post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “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.”
The US president did not say whether he was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines in his post on Truth Social.
Speaking to reporters later the same day, Trump said: “A threat was made, and we didn’t think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful”.
“I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we’re going to protect our people.”
The Kremlin has so far made no public comments on the issue, but Moscow’s stock market fell sharply following Trump’s statements.
Trump and Medvedev have recently been involved in a series of personal attacks against each other on social media.
It comes after Trump set a new deadline for current Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring the war to an end by 8 August which Putin has shown no signs of doing.
Before that, on Monday, Trump had set a “10 or 12” day deadline. Earlier in July he threatened Russia with severe tariffs targeting its oil and other exports if Putin did not end the war in 50 days.
However, could this be the first time in history a social media spat triggers nuclear escalation?
President Donald Trump, offended by posts by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, says he’s ordered two nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia.
So, how will Moscow respond? Are we on a path to a nuclear standoff between America and Russia? An internet-age version of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis?
I doubt it, judging by initial reaction in Russia.
Russian news outlets have been rather dismissive of Trump’s announcement.
Speaking to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, a military commentator concluded that Trump was “throwing a temper tantrum”.
A retired lieutenant-general told Kommersant that the US president’s talk of submarines was “meaningless blather. it’s how he gets his kicks”.
“I’m sure Trump didn’t really give any orders (about submarines),” a Russian security expert suggested to the same paper.
Kommersant also mentions that in 2017, Trump said that he’d dispatched two nuclear submarines to the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea.
Yet not long after, Trump held a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Int’l News Desk)
