Kremlin Plays Down Trump Submarine Move, Warns on Nuclear Rhetoric

The Kremlin urged the United States and other actors to be “very, very careful” with nuclear rhetoric after President Donald Trump said he had ordered two U.S. nuclear submarines to reposition "to the appropriate regions" in response to remarks by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that American submarines are routinely on combat patrol and that Moscow does not wish to engage in a public dispute over the matter. Peskov added that “in a nuclear war there can be no winners,” stressing that Russia sees no current escalation in the strategic balance and remains committed to nuclear non-proliferation. He reiterated that President Vladimir Putin shapes Russia’s nuclear policy and called for restraint on both sides. The exchange comes as Trump threatens to impose new sanctions on Russia—and on buyers of its oil such as India and China—unless Putin agrees by Friday to end the three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine. Trump has indicated he may dispatch his envoy, real-estate executive Steve Witkoff, to Moscow later this week for talks aimed at securing a cease-fire.