US President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines to undisclosed strategic locations following a fierce exchange with Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia and current Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
Trump’s response came after Medvedev posted a statement on Telegram mocking the US and making indirect references to Cold War-era nuclear strategy. Calling Medvedev’s remarks “highly provocative,” Trump said, “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.”
In his post on X, Trump further warned, “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances.”
The verbal clash was triggered when Trump referred to Medvedev as the “failed former President of Russia” and dismissed India’s trade relations with Russia while announcing new tariffs and penalty charges against New Delhi. “They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” Trump said, claiming that India imposed some of the highest tariffs in the world.
Reacting to Trump’s criticism, Medvedev wrote, “If a few words from the former president of Russia can provoke such a jittery reaction from the mighty President of the United States, then Russia must be completely in the right.” Taking a dig at Trump’s remarks about “dead economies,” Medvedev sarcastically invoked Russia’s Cold War-era “Dead Hand” nuclear retaliation system.
The back-and-forth has raised alarm among international observers, given the nuclear undertones and Trump’s direct military orders. The US Department of Defense has not disclosed the exact deployment location of the submarines, but the move is being closely watched amid rising global geopolitical uncertainty.
