New York, Aug 2
US President Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to "appropriate" points to confront Russia as the war of words between him and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues to escalate, spilling over from the digital domain to the real world.
Reacting to Mededev's post on Telegram, Trump said on Truth Social, "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."
He added, "Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances."
Trump did not say which submarines were being deployed or where.
Their fight started when Mededev posted on X earlier in the week in English that Trump's "each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war" between the US and Russia.
Mededev, who is now the deputy chair of Russia's National Security Council, made his comments in response to Trump shortening the deadline for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine from the original 50 days to ten days, which will end next week.
Trump said that he would shock Moscow with more sanctions and also impose secondary sanctions on countries that buy energy from it, like India, if there was no end to the war by the deadline.
Trump has also said that more sanctions may not have an impact on Russia.
India was inadvertently caught in the crossfire when Trump said on Truth Social on Thursday, before formalising the 25 per cent tariff on India, "I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care".
He added in the same post, "Let's ... tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory"!
Switching to Telegram channel in Russian, Mededev referred to the comment about the "dead economy" and made a veiled nuclear threat.
A Google translation of the remark reads, "And about the 'dead economy' of India and Russia and 'entering dangerous territory' -- well, let him remember his favourite films about the 'Walking Dead', as well as how dangerous a 'Dead Hand' that does not exist in nature can be."
"Dead Hand" was a Soviet system of releasing nuclear missiles automatically if the Moscow leadership was wiped out, and Russia may still have it, and this nuclear reference may have set off Trump.
('Walking Dead' is a 2010 TV series about a post-apocalyptic world taken over by zombies after civilisation has been destroyed.)
The escalating current conflict involving nukes is reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba, the island about 150 kilometres from the US.
In less than two weeks, Moscow backed down after President John F Kennedy effectively blockaded Cuba.
The difference in today's situation is that Trump isn't working off an island but with submarines that are mobile and are unlikely to back down, as Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev did.
In an earlier post on X, Mededev responded to Trump's 10 per cent punitive tariff threat against BRICS members.
He wrote, "BRICS is gaining authority. Trump announced that an additional 10 per cent tariff would be imposed on any country that supports the BRICS policy. So, we're doing everything right"!
