Nuclear drama deepens: Russia shrugs off Trump’s submarine threat; boasts undersea superiority
In a chilling echo of Cold War posturing, Russia, in response to US President Donald Trump’s nuclear vessels positioning order, claimed that it has more than enough nuclear submarines patrolling the world’s oceans. Russian Duma member Viktor Vodolatsky told state-run agency TASS that Trump’s order to redeploy two US nuclear submarines to “appropriate regions” was already anticipated, and that the American vessels are firmly within Russia’s watch.“The number of Russian nuclear submarines in the world’s oceans is significantly higher than the American ones, and the subs that US President Donald Trump ordered to be redirected to the appropriate regions have long been under their control. So no response from the Russian Federation to the American leader’s statement about the submarines is required,” Vodolatsky said. His comments came hours after Trump, in a Truth Social post, claimed he had repositioned US submarines in response to “extremely provocative statements” by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and now deputy head of the Russian Security Council.“Let the two US subs sail, they have been in the crosshairs for a long time now,” Vodolatsky added ominously.“A fundamental agreement that must be concluded between Russia and America so that the whole world calms down and stops talking about the beginning of World War III,” he added.While the rhetoric has sent pulses racing across global headlines, Russian foreign policy experts are calling for calm. Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, downplayed Trump’s statement, suggesting it was more social media showmanship than actual military strategy.“Trump, as we know, runs his own channel and reacts, so to speak, emotionally, humanly and spontaneously. I think that the armed forces, the naval forces of the United States read this with great surprise. If this exchange of opinions continues, and Trump continues to be drawn into it, then, one way or another, he will probably have to take some action. In my opinion, so far this is only at the level of words,” Lukyanov told local private news channel RBC TV.
