Kremlin urges caution on ‘nuclear rhetoric’, but plays down Trump’s nuclear submarine order

In its first response to US President Donald Trump’s order on repositioning of US nuclear submarines, the Kremlin said on Monday that everyone should be “very, very careful” about nuclear rhetoric and said it was not looking to get into a public argument with Trump. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, “In this case, it is obvious that American submarines are already on combat duty. This is an ongoing process, that’s the first thing.” “But in general, of course, we would not want to get involved in such a controversy and would not want to comment on it in any way,” he added. “Of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric.”

Peskov, however, played down the significance of Trump’s announcement last Friday that he had ordered two nuclear subs to be moved to “the appropriate regions” in reaction to former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s comment about the risk of war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.

‘Trump’s statement not an escalation in nuclear tension’

Peskov said that Russia did not see Trump’s statement as an escalation in nuclear tension.

“We do not believe that we are talking about any escalation now. It is clear that very complex, very sensitive issues are being discussed, which, of course, are perceived very emotionally by many people,” he said.

He refused a direct answer on being asked whether the Kremlin had tried to warn Medvedev to tone down his online altercation with Trump.

‘Our foreign policy is formulated by President Putin’

“Listen, in every country, members of the leadership... have different points of view on events that are taking place, different attitudes. There are people who are very, very tough-minded in the United States of America and in European countries, so this is always the case,” he said.

“But the main thing, of course, is the position of President (Vladimir) Putin,” he said. “You know that in our country, foreign policy is formulated by the head of state, that is, President Putin.”

The spat came at a delicate moment when Trump is threatening to impose new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its oil, including India and China, unless President Vladimir Putin agrees by Friday to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump, who frequently promised to end the war within 24 hours while campaigning for the US presidency last year, spoke admiringly of Putin after assuming office but voiced increasing frustration with him of late.