WASHINGTON: In a warning to Russia, President Donald Trump said Friday he’s ordering the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines “based on the highly provocative statements” of the country’s former president, Dmitry Medvedev, who has raised the prospect of war online.
Trump posted on his social media site that, based on the “highly provocative statements” from Medvedev, he had “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”
He added: “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances.”
It wasn’t clear what impact Trump’s order would have on US nuclear subs, which are routinely on patrol in the world’s hotspots, but it comes at a delicate moment in the Trump administration’s relations with Moscow.
Trump has said that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made. He cut his 50-day deadline for action to 10 days, with that window set to expire next week.
The post about the sub repositioning came after Trump, in the wee hours of Thursday morning, had posted that Medvedev was a “failed former President of Russia” and warned him to “watch his words.” Medvedev responded hours later by writing, “Russia is right on everything and will continue to go its own way.”
And that back-and-forth started earlier this week when Medvedev wrote, “Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10” and added, “He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step toward war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.”
Asked as he was leaving the White House on Friday evening for a weekend at his estate in New Jersey about where he was repositioning the subs, Trump didn’t offer any specifics.
“We had to do that. We just have to be careful,” he said. “A threat was made, and we didn’t think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful.”
Trump also said, “I do that on the basis of safety for our people” and “we’re gonna protect our people.” He later added of Medvedev, “He was talking about nuclear.”
“When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared,” Trump said. “And we’re totally prepared.”
Medvedev was Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, while Vladimir Putin was barred from seeking a third consecutive term, and then stepped aside to let him run again.
Now deputy chairman of Russia’s National Security Council, which Putin chairs, Medvedev has been known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since the start of the war in 2022. That’s a U-turn from his presidency, when he was seen as liberal and progressive.
Medvedev has frequently wielded nuclear threats and lobbed insults at Western leaders on social media. Some observers have argued that with his extravagant rhetoric, Medvedev is seeking to score political points with Putin and Russian military hawks.
One such example before the latest spat with Trump came on July 15, after Trump announced plans to supply Ukraine with more weapons via its NATO allies and threatened additional tariffs against Moscow. Medvedev posted then, “Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.”
Medvedev on Thursday said Trump should remember that Moscow possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort, after Trump told Medvedev to “watch his words.”
President Putin said on Friday that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favor. He made no reference to the deadline.
Trump, who in the past touted good relations with Putin, has expressed mounting frustration with the Russian leader, accusing him of “bullshit” and describing Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine as disgusting.
Medvedev has emerged as one of the Kremlin’s most outspoken anti-Western hawks since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022. Kremlin critics deride him as an irresponsible loose cannon, though some Western diplomats say his statements illustrate the thinking in senior Kremlin policy-making circles.
Trump also rebuked Medvedev in July, accusing him of throwing around the “N (nuclear) word” after the Russian official criticized US strikes on Iran and said “a number of countries” were ready to supply Iran with nuclear warheads. “I guess that’s why Putin’s ‘THE BOSS’,” Trump said at the time.
The US president took office in January having promised to end the Ukraine war on Day One, but has not been able to get Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.
Only six countries operate nuclear-powered submarines: the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and India.
The US Navy has 71 commissioned submarines including 53 fast attack submarines, 14 ballistic-missile submarines, and four guided-missile submarines. All of them are nuclear-powered, but only some carry nuclear weapon-tipped missiles.
