Russia downplays US submarine order, urges caution on N-rhetoric

Russia said on Monday that everyone should be “very, very careful” about nuclear rhetoric, responding to a statement by US President Donald Trump that he had ordered a repositioning of US nuclear submarines.

In its first public reaction to Trump’s comments, Kremlin played down their significance and said it was not looking to get into a public argument with him.

On Friday, Trump said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved to “the appropriate regions” in response to remarks from former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about the risk of war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.

“In this case, it is obvious that American submarines are already on combat duty. This is an ongoing process, that’s the first thing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“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. Of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric,” he added.

The episode comes at a delicate moment, with Trump threatening to impose new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its oil, including India and China, unless President Vladimir Putin agrees to end the 3.5-year war in Ukraine by Friday.

Last week, Putin had said that peace talks had made some positive progress but Russia had the momentum in the war, signalling no shift in his position despite the looming deadline.

Trump has said he may send his envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia on Wednesday or Thursday. Witkoff has held long conversations with Putin on several previous visits, but failed to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire.

US investors eye Russian gas at Bulgarian facility

Two American financiers, with support from a former campaign manager of US President Donald Trump, have approached Bulgarian authorities to discuss a possible investment in a state-owned underground storage filled mostly with Russian natural gas, according to five people familiar with the matter.