President Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be “positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to “provocative statements” from Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, he announced via Truth Social on Friday.
Trump said the move was made in case Medvedev’s recent “foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” he wrote on Truth Social Friday. Medvedev reminded Trump on Thursday that Russia has an automated, Soviet-era nuclear retaliation protocol if leadership were to be decapitated in response to a previous Truth Social post earlier that day.
Russia has repeatedly invoked the threat of its nuclear arsenal as a response to demands for peace in its war with Ukraine.
Trump said on Truth Social Thursday that Medvedev was “entering very dangerous territory” after the top Russian official accused Trump of escalating toward war with his threats of tariffs and sanctions against nations who do business with Russia. Trump drastically shortened his deadline for Russia to come to the negotiating table on Monday, reducing the window for a deal from 50 days to only 10 or 12 days.
Congress is also working on a bipartisan bill that would allow Trump to levy 500% tariffs on imports from countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and uranium.
Russia has continued to aggressively pursue their war in Ukraine, launching a record 6,400 drones over the course of July. Russia has demanded Ukraine cede large swaths of territory the Russian Army currently occupies, while Kiev had shot down any proposals to give up its territory.
Trump has become publicly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the last two months, accusing the leader of stalling peace talks to continue his military campaign.
The White House deferred to Trump’s Truth, while the Pentagon deferred to the White House.
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
