President Donald Trump told reporters in Great Britain on Monday that he was “very disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin over his failure to play ball on peace talks, noting that he would shorten a 50-day negotiating window and “make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days.”
The president later added, “And then we’re going to put on tariffs.”
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian Federation’s security council and former Russian president, said in response, “Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10… He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!”
‘Russia is right about everything and will continue to go its own way.’
The engagement between the two men online quickly devolved into talk of nuclear war and, on Friday afternoon, the dispatch of two nuclear submarines.
Grigorii Golosov, a political science professor at the European University in St. Petersburg, Russia, told the New York Times that Trump has targeted Medvedev rather than Putin online because he “wants to criticize someone in Russia” but is still hoping to make a deal with the current Russian president.
On Thursday, Trump suggested that Russia and the United States should continue to do “almost no business together” — total trade between the two nuclear powers amounted to $3.5 billion in 2024 — and said that Medvedev should “watch his words,” adding, “He’s entering very dangerous territory!”
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Getty Images
Medvedev issued a rejoinder hours later on Telegram, writing in Russian, “If certain words uttered by the former Russian president provoke such a nervous reaction from the formidable US president, then Russia is right about everything and will continue to go its own way.”
Putin’s right-hand man added, “Let him remember his favorite movies about ‘The Walking Dead,’ as well as how dangerous the non-existent in nature ‘Dead Hand’ can be.”
“Dead Hand” is a reference to a nuclear weapon launch system that could apparently trigger nuclear attacks across the U.S. in the event that a nuclear strike on Moscow is detected or if communications with top Russian leaders drop off.
Russian Strategic Rocket Forces Col. Gen. Sergey Karakayev told the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in a 2011 interview that the system was indeed “on combat duty.”
President Trump was not at all amused by the allusion to an American nuclear holocaust.
On Friday afternoon, Trump noted that based on Medvedev’s “highly provocative statements,” he has “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”
“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences,” continued the president. “I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared Trump’s statement online. Neither the president nor Hegseth indicated where the submarines were being deployed.
In an earlier message on Friday, the president bemoaned the loss of life in Ukraine, noting:
Almost 20,000 Russian soldiers died this month in the ridiculous War with Ukraine. Russia has lost 112,500 soldiers since the beginning of the year. That is a lot of unnecessary DEATH! Ukraine, however, has also suffered greatly. They have lost approximately 8,000 soldiers since January 1, 2025, and that number does not include their missing.
This is a developing story.
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