US President Donald Trump has shown Russia that he is not one to take threats lying down, after the Republican swiftly reacted to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s aide, Dmitry Medvedev’s ‘ dead hand’ threat, following the POTUS’s remarks on the Indian and Russian economies.
Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be deployed near Russia. The move has not gone down too well, with Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists noting that the US President was forming a “commitment trap”, fueling expectations nuclear weapons are on the cards if tensions escalate more with Russia.
Amid these tensions, a video has surfaced claiming that Russian “Borei Class submarines equipped with thermonuclear Bulava missiles are now close to the US coast.”
Fears of war and fact-checking the Russian submarine claim
First off, there is no news of any fresh Russian submarine activity off the US coast. The video that has been shared on X is from 2018 and was of a test Russia conducted in the White Sea.
However, Trump’s actions have sparked fears in many. One person
on X, “‘I’ll end the war before I even take office.’ 6 months later ‘Send in the nuclear subs.'”
Another
“The odds of WW3 just went up dramatically”.
“Wake up dude, it’s just more posturing. Do you really believe that those submarines weren’t already being planned for months in advance for that deployment? Learn a little bit about how ballistic missile submarines are operated,” another
on a thread related to the US deployment of nuclear subs.
However, online trepiditon aside, experts don’t believe this could actually lead to World War 3 or a nuclear war between Russia and US.
Evelyn Farkas, executive director of the McCain Institute, said “It’s really signaling. It’s not the beginning of some nuclear confrontation and nobody reads it as such. And I would imagine the Russians don’t either.”
The Telegraph also noted that Trump’s Truth Social post is more of a gesture, given that US nuclear submarines are in position to destroy Russia all the time.
Russia-US tensions rise
Trump’s actions come after Medvedev on X wrote “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war.” On Telegram, the former Russian President also referred to ‘dead hand’, which some military analysts understood to be Russia’s codename for the retaliatory nuclear strikes control system.
Trump, then, on Truth Social responded saying “Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions”.
He also said he acted “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.”
Notably, Russia has done its fair share of nuclear saber-rattling in the past, including sending a nuclear-powered submarine and warships to Cuba, which is very close to the US coast.
Kimball, the security expert, noted that the US has historically refrained from making threats regarding the use of its nuclear weapons.
Trump’s statements also come at a time when he is increasingly frustrated with Putin for not agreeing on a ceasefire with Ukraine, but McCain’s Farkas noted that the nuclear sub deployment was unlikely to have any impact on Russia’s course of action in the bordering country.