By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 01 Aug 2025 • 23:58
• 2 minutes read
The tense dynamic between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin captured in a symbolic image, as US-Russia relations take centre stage once again.
Credit : Shutterstock
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in “the appropriate regions” in response to “highly provocative” comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, 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 said in a social media post on Friday, August 1st.
“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances,” the US president added. Speaking to reporters later on Friday, Trump said, “A threat was made, and we didn’t think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful, according to the BBC.
‘We are going to protect our people’
“I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former Russian president. And we’re going to protect our people,” Trump said.
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 Putin to bring the war with Ukraine to an end by August 8th or face more sanctions and higher tariffs, which Putin and the Kremlin shrugged off.
Medvedev – who was Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012 – accused Trump of playing “the ultimatum game with Russia” earlier this week.
A step towards war, says Medvedev
In a post on X, Medvedev said, “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war”.
He also said Trump’s ultimatum is “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.
Mounting frustration
Russia and the United States have the most significant nuclear arms arsenal worldwide, and both countries have a fleet of nuclear submarines.
It is extremely rare for the U.S. military to discuss the deployment and location of US submarines, given their sensitive mission in nuclear deterrence. The U.S. Navy declined to comment.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.
Trump has expressed mounting frustration with the Russian leader, accusing him of “bullshit” and describing Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine as disgusting.
