President Donald Trump announced Friday he is ordering two nuclear submarines to be positioned near Russia after “provocative statements” from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“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, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page. “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
After Trump on Monday said he was reducing a deadline for Russia to agree to a Ukraine peace settlement from 50 days to 10 or 12 days, Medvedev wrote on X that Trump was playing “the ultimatum game” and that such an approach could lead to war.
Medvedev said in a post on the Telegram platform Thursday cautioned Trump to keep in mind “his favorite films about the ‘walking dead,'” and referred to the Soviet Union’s system for launching a last-ditch, automatic nuclear strike. It was not clear whether his comment referred to the apocalyptic American TV show “The Walking Dead.”
The Pentagon typically doesn’t announce the deployment of nuclear submarines because they are often on secret missions surveilling Russian and Chinese submarines, Politico reported.
Trump did not say whether he is positioning submarines that are capable of launching nuclear strikes.