The Big Story 

President Trump is rattling the U.S.’s formidable nuclear saber amid his growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to halt the war in Ukraine.

© AP

Trump last week said he was moving two “nuclear” submarines closer to Russia in response to threatening rhetoric from a top Kremlin official. On Sunday, he confirmed the vessels were now “in the region.”

It’s not clear if Trump is referring to nuclear-armed submarines or nuclear-powered attack submarines, but the confusion adds to the threat, which coincides with the president’s Friday deadline for Russia to end the war or face further economic isolation.  

Experts say it’s a risky tactic unlikely to sway Putin, who has stood in the way of the president’s campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the White House. 

“I don’t see a lot of the benefits or the advantages, given that the Russians know very well that we have, for decades, had nuclear-armed submarines that could target what matters to them,” said Erin Dumbacher, the Stanton Nuclear Security Senior Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. 

“I see more risk than reward to using statements like this.”  

While experts don’t see an imminent threat, they warn against careless and bombastic statements that could lead to risky miscalculation and confrontation. 

“Does this mean that all of a sudden we should all be going to the cellar and locking ourselves in? No,” said former Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), who is the executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, in a call with The Hill. 

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, is expected in Moscow later this week to push Putin to agree to a ceasefire. If that fails, Ukraine’s supporters are hoping Trump will pull the trigger on “secondary tariffs” on countries that import oil from Russia, in a bid to choke off the Kremlin’s ability to finance its war. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday downplayed the movement of the U.S. submarines to its nearby waters, saying it does not want to be dragged into a tit-for-tat escalation.

“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,” Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters. “Of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric.”

Peskov added that Russia does not currently see the movement as an escalation.

“It is clear that very complex, very sensitive issues are being discussed, which, of course, are perceived very emotionally by many people,” he added.

Read the full report at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

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