‘There Can Be No Winner In A Nuclear War’: Russia Responds After Trump Dispatches Submarines

Russia warned against nuclear escalation on Monday in the Kremlin’s first public remarks addressing President Donald Trump’s decision to reposition two nuclear submarines near Russia on Friday.

Trump ordered the submarines to be moved in response to former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s “highly provocative statements,” which included a warning that Trump’s ultimatums to Russia were “a step towards war.”

“Russia is very cautious about nuclear nonproliferation matters, and we believe everyone should be very careful about nuclear rhetoric,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, according to The Washington Post.

Peskov also appeared to distance Russian President Vladimir Putin from Medvedev, who is often seen as Putin’s attack dog.

“In our country, foreign policy is formulated by the head of state, President Putin,” Peskov said. He did not answer when asked if the Kremlin would tell Medvedev to cool down his rhetoric. The spokesman added that Moscow is not considering “any escalation” with the United States.

“There can be no winner in a nuclear war,” Peskov added. “This is probably the key premise we rely on. We do not think there is talk of any escalation.”

In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump blasted Medvedev and his “foolish and inflammatory statements,” writing, “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances.”

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Putin later this week as Trump ramps up pressure on Russia to end its war with Ukraine. Witkoff’s visit, which would be his fifth visit with Putin, comes just before Trump’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine. The president has vowed to impose secondary tariffs on Russia if it does not agree to peace with Ukraine by August 9.

Trump revealed last week that nearly 20,000 Russian troops were killed in combat over the past month, raising the total number of Russians killed during the more than three-year-long war to 112,500. Some estimates put the number of Russian casualties much higher.

“That is a lot of unnecessary DEATH!” Trump said.

“Ukraine has also lost civilians, but in smaller numbers, as Russian rockets crash into Kyiv, and other Ukrainian locales,” he added. “This is a War that should have never happened — This is Biden’s War, not ‘TRUMP’s.’ I’m just here to see if I can stop it!”