Asked as he was leaving the White House on Friday evening for a weekend at his estate in New Jersey about where he was repositioning the subs, Trump didn’t offer any specifics.
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“We had to do that. We just have to be careful,” he said. “A threat was made, and we didn’t think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful.”
Trump also said, “I do that on the basis of safety for our people” and “we’re gonna protect our people.” He later added of Medvedev, “He was talking about nuclear.”
“When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared,” Trump said. “And we’re totally prepared.”
Medvedev was Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, while Vladimir Putin was barred from seeking a third consecutive term, and then stepped aside to let him run again.
Now deputy chairman of Russia’s National Security Council, which Putin chairs, Medvedev has been known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since the start of the war in 2022. That’s a U-turn from his presidency, when he was seen as liberal and progressive.
Medvedev has frequently wielded nuclear threats and lobbed insults at Western leaders on social media. Some observers have argued that with his extravagant rhetoric, Medvedev is seeking to score political points with Putin and Russian military hawks.
One such example before the latest spat with Trump came on July 15, after Trump announced plans to supply Ukraine with more weapons via its NATO allies and threatened additional tariffs against Moscow.
Medvedev posted then, “Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.”
