Trump orders nuclear subs to near Russia, Kremlin urges caution with ‘nuclear rhetoric’

After President Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines moved near Russian waters, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded with a warning in the Russian state news agency Tass Monday.

Trump’s submarine repositioning was in response to former Russian president and current Russian deputy chair of the security council Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev was responding to what he called the “ultimatum game” from Trump wherein he threatened sanctions on Russia to get it to stop the war in Ukraine. Medvedev said last week on platform X that each new ultimatum from the president is “a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.”

“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 said Friday Aug. 1 on his Truth Social account. “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences.”

Meanwhile, Peskov told Tass that “Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation. And we believe that everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric.”

Peskov also said Moscow does not want to escalate the situation and will not be reacting to the repositioning of the U.S.’s submarines. However, Moscow could be in a position to negotiate as other Kremlin-owned media said U.S. special envoy and negotiator Steve Witkoff is expected in Moscow Aug. 6.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, which develops the warheads that go on the nuclear submarines, did not immediately respond to a question on which subs were sent and whether the agency was consulted.