US President Donald Trump has once again criticised statements by Russian Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev and said that US nuclear submarines are now “closer to Russia”. Trump said in an interview with Newsmax, made public on the evening of 1 August (on the night of 2 August Kiev time).
“He shouldn’t have said that … he’s said something similar in the past. And that’s why we want to be prepared. And that’s why I’ve sent two nuclear submarines to the region. I just want to make sure his words are just words and nothing more,” Trump said.
To a clarifying question about whether the submarines have moved closer to Russia, the US president said: “they’re closer to Russia. Yes, they are closer to Russia.”
On 29 July, US President Donald Trump said that the deadline for Russia to make progress in ending its war against Ukraine is “10 days from today”, otherwise he will impose duties and other measures against Moscow. Before that, the US president said he was” very disappointed” with Putin.
The Kremlin said that ” took into account ” the statement of US President Donald Trump. At the same time, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the “special military operation”, as the war against Ukraine is called in Russia, was continuing.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the US president’s words bring him closer to war with Russia, and later said that “Russia is right in everything and will continue to go its own way,” probably referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the general anti-Western stance of the Russian authorities. Medvedev also hinted at Russia’s automatic or semi-automatic nuclear weapons control system, called “Dead Hand” or “Perimeter,” in his response to Trump.
The US president sharply criticised Medvedev and said on the TruthSocial network on August 1 that US nuclear submarines would be placed on alert “in the appropriate regions”, calling it a reaction to the former Russian president’s statements.
“He (Medvedev – ed.) talked about nuclear weapons. When you talk about nuclear weapons, we have to be ready. And we are fully prepared,” Trump explained his order to deploy nuclear submarines later in an interaction with reporters.
Russia has not yet commented on the US president’s statements.