WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines Friday in an extraordinary escalation of what had been an online war of words with a Russian official over Ukraine and tariffs.
Trump and Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, have been sparring on social media for days.
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Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform abruptly took that spat into the very real — and rarely publicized — sphere of nuclear forces.
“Based on the highly provocative statements,” Trump said he had “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, 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,” the 79-year-old Republican posted.
Trump did not say in his post whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.
But in an interview with Newsmax that aired Friday night, Trump said the submarines were “closer to Russia.”
“We always want to be ready. And so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines,” he said.
“I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that.”
Trump’s remarks came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had started mass producing its hypersonic nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile, and could deploy them to Belarus, a close Russian ally neighbouring Ukraine, by year-end.
The nuclear sabre-rattling came against the backdrop of a deadline set by Trump for the end of next week for Russia to take steps to ending the Ukraine war or face unspecified new sanctions.
Despite the pressure from Washington, Russia’s onslaught against its pro-Western neighbor continues to unfold at full bore.
An AFP analysis Friday showed that Russian forces had launched a record number of drones at Ukraine in July.
The United States and Russia control the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weaponry, and Washington keeps nuclear-armed submarines on permanent patrol as part of its so-called nuclear triad of land, sea and air-launched weapons.
