Once hailed as a modernising reformer, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and current deputy head of the Security Council, has reemerged as one of the Kremlin’s most provocative voices, escalating tensions with the West through increasingly aggressive statements.
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This week, Medvedev’s threats prompted US President Donald Trump to take a dramatic step: repositioning two US nuclear submarines to unspecified regions. “Based on the highly provocative statements,” Trump said on Friday, according to The Moscow Times, “I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”
In a Telegram post on Thursday, Medvedev made ominous references to Russia’s Cold War-era “Dead Hand” nuclear launch system, warning Trump to “picture The Walking Dead,” a popular post-apocalyptic TV show.
His latest remarks came after Trump threatened to impose new sanctions unless Russia agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine , a demand the Kremlin has all but dismissed. Medvedev responded by accusing Washington of pushing the two nuclear-armed nations toward conflict.
These are not isolated incidents.
In June, following US airstrikes on nuclear-linked sites in Iran, Medvedev raised the idea that “a number of countries” were ready to supply Tehran with nuclear warheads. Trump, angered by what he saw as casual nuclear bluffing, warned publicly against such escalations.
Medvedev’s journey
Once seen as a technocrat open to global engagement, Medvedev, a trained lawyer with no KGB background, now operates as a loyal attack dog for the Kremlin.
Medvedev’s recent behaviour stands in stark contrast to the man who, as president from 2008 to 2012, once stood beside Barack Obama and spoke of joint global leadership, reported CNN. “The solution of many world problems depends on the joint will of the United States and Russia,” he said at the time.
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According to CNN, Medvedev’s presidency was widely viewed as a placeholder for Vladimir Putin, who returned to the post in 2012. Medvedev later admitted, “They often tell me, ‘You’re a liberal.’ I can tell you frankly: I have never had liberal convictions.”
Following his demotion to prime minister and then deputy chair of the Security Council, Medvedev now regularly delivers hardline outbursts on social media.
Medvedev’s pivot has been especially sharp in the wake of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He has dismissed Ukrainian leaders as “cockroaches breeding in a jar,” as per CNN, attacked Western officials as “bastards and degenerates,” and mocked US politics. In a speech earlier this year, he showed a graphic depicting Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Muppets, using the moment to call for the “destruction of the Kyiv neo-Nazi regime.”
However, not everyone is taking Medvedev’s threats at face value. Commenting on this week’s flare-up, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft called both Medvedev’s remarks and Trump’s response “pure theatrics.” “Having refrained from the use of nuclear weapons over the past three years, Russia is obviously not going to launch them in response to a new round of US sanctions,” he said, as per CNN.
(With inputs from The Moscow Times, CNN)
