US President Donald Trump says he’s ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines “to be positioned in appropriate regions” in response to what he called “highly provocative comments” by the former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.
The US president did not say whether he was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines in his post on Truth Social.
Trump said he was acting “just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances”.
Medvedev has recently threatened the United States, in response to Trump’s ultimatums to Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, or face tough sanctions. He has accused Trump of playing “the ultimatum game with Russia”and in a post on X, wrote “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war”.
The US President did not say where the two submarines were being deployed, in keeping with US military protocol.
Russia and the US possess vast nuclear arsenals and both countries have a fleet of nuclear submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles with multiple warheads at short notice.
Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Gary O’Donoghue in Washington and Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.
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