Trump moves nuclear submarines after Russian ex-president’s comments

US President Donald Trump has instructed two nuclear submarines to “be positioned in the relevant areas” in reaction to “highly provocative” statements made 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 didn’t disclose the locations for deploying the two submarines, following US military protocol. Medvedev has lately warned the US following Trump’s demands to Moscow to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine or encounter harsh penalties. Russia and the US hold the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons globally, and each nation operates 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 yet to issue any public statements on the matter, but the stock market in Moscow dropped significantly after Trump’s remarks. Trump and Medvedev have lately engaged in a succession of personal insults towards one another on social media. This follows Trump imposing a new deadline for Putin to conclude the war by 8 August – something Putin has not indicated he will do. Prior to that, on Monday, Trump had established a deadline of “10 or 12” days. In early July, he warned Russia of heavy tariffs aimed at its oil and other exports if Putin did not conclude the war within 50 days .

Medvedev – who was Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012 – accused Trump of playing “the ultimatum game with Russia” earlier this week. In a post on X, Medvedev said “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war”. He also described Trump’s ultimatum as “theatrical” earlier in July, saying that “Russia didn’t care”.

Writing on Telegram on Thursday, Medvedev warned of a “dead hand” threat – which some military analysts understood as a reference to the codename of Russia’s retaliatory nuclear strikes control system.

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.