(Zero Hedge)—President Trump has in a newly published interview with Newsmax explained more about his decision to send a pair of nuclear submarines “closer to Russia” after the “fresh mouth” of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev – who currently serves deputy chair of the country’s Security Council – made reference to atomic apocalypse in written remarks about the Ukraine war and standoff with Washington.
Trump told “Finnerty” show host Rob Finnerty at the White House that his “eyes light up” when nuclear weapons are mentioned, particularly by a Russian official like Medvedev.
“Well, a former president of Russia who’s now in charge of one of the most important councils, Medvedev, said some things that were very bad, talking about nuclear.”
Trump continued, “And when you mention the word ‘nuclear,’ you know, my eyes light up and I say, ‘We better be careful,’ because it’s the ultimate threat.”
Medvedev had on Thursday posted on Telegram that Trump should recall “his favorite films about the ‘walking dead'” and while referencing Soviet Union nuclear strike doctrine.
Trump explained in the new interview, “He shouldn’t have said it. He’s got a fresh mouth. He’s said things in the past, too. And so we always want to be ready. And so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines. I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that.”
When asked by the interviewer whether the submarines are in fact now closer to Russia, the US Commander-in-Chief responded:
“They’re closer to Russia. Yeah, they’re closer to Russia.”
The question remains whether these submarines are merely nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed. Certainly the latter scenario would mark a huge and dangerous escalation, and yet the US has always exercised strategic ambiguity in this regard.
It has been longstanding US national security policy to not disclose if a particular sub is deployed with nuclear warheads on board or not. And the reality is that these submarines are in all kinds of locations, and probably pass Russia’s shores not infrequently – but their locations are never really known. Trump had told reporters previously at the White House:
“Well, you just have to read what he said. He was talking about nuclear. When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared. And we’re totally prepared.”
Still, the Trump online statement caught the world’s – and certainly Moscow’s – attention, driving world headlines all day Friday…
Trump in the Newsmax interview continued by giving his assessment of the current status of the war and negotiations:
“This is [former President Joe] Biden’s war. This is not my war. This war would have never happened. It didn’t happen for four years. It was never even talked about other than anything I had conversations with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Trump said. “It was the apple of his eye, but he wasn’t going to go into Ukraine. And I will say this, that’s a war that should end. That’s a terrible war.”
On the new Aug. 8 deadline for peace, he reiterated that if a deal is not in place, “we’ll put sanctions on, and he’s pretty good with sanctions. He knows how to avoid sanctions.”
“I talked to Putin a lot, and I think we had a great conversation. Then I go home and I see that a bomb was dropped in Kyiv and some of the various cities, killing people. I say, you know, I just had this great conversation with him, and it looked like we were going to — I thought we had it worked out three different times, and maybe he wants to try and take the whole thing. I think it’s going to be very hard for him,” he said. But clearly Trump is seeking to manage expectations, and seems to be admitting his planned punitive action is unlikely to have huge impact.
Further on Putin, the US President said, “He’s obviously a tough cookie, so it hasn’t changed in that way. But I’m surprised. We had numerous good conversations where we could have ended this thing, and all of a sudden bombs start flying.”
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