Kremlin Dismisses Nuclear Escalation in Trump’s Submarine Remarks
The Kremlin said on Monday that everyone should be careful about nuclear rhetoric, in its first response to a statement by U.S. President Donald Trump that he had ordered a repositioning of U.S. nuclear submarines.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down the significance of Trump’s comments, saying it was clear that U.S. submarines were already on combat duty anyway. He said Moscow had no desire to get into a polemic with Trump on the issue.
“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.”
In this regard, Peskov said that Russia did not see Trump’s statement as marking 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.
The Kremlin also signalled possible meeting between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, adding that contacts with Witkoff “are always useful and important.”
President Donald Trump on Sunday said special envoy Steve Witkoff may travel to Russia, potentially on Wednesday or Thursday, as he warned that he would impose sanctions if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine before Friday.
“There’ll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions,” Trump told reporters.
