Ex-Russian president threatens Trump with nuclear weapons

 Donald Trump warned a key Vladimir Putin ally he was “entering dangerous territory” in an escalating war of words.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia, had criticised Mr Trump’s threat to impose sanctions on Moscow in less than two weeks if Vladimir Putin did not agree to a ceasefire.

“Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!” Mr Medvedev, who now sits on Russia’s security council, said earlier this week.

Mr Trump warned Mr Medvedev, whom he described as the “failed former president of Russia”, to “watch his words”.

“Tell Medvedev, the failed former president of Russia, who thinks he’s still president, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” the US president posted on Truth Social.

Nuclear threat

Mr Medvedev responded again on Thursday by reminding Mr Trump that Moscow possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.

“If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path,” Mr Medvedev said in a post on Telegram.

Mr Trump should remember, Mr Medvedev said, “how dangerous the fabled ‘Dead Hand’ can be”, a reference to a secretive semi-automated Russian command system designed to launch Moscow’s nuclear missiles if its leadership had been taken out in a decapitating strike.

Russian and Indian economies ‘dead’

Mr Medvedev has emerged as one of the Kremlin’s most outspoken anti-Western hawks since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Mr Trump also rebuked Mr Medvedev in July, accusing him of throwing around the “N (nuclear) word” after the Russian official criticised US strikes against Iran.

“I guess that’s why Putin’s ‘THE BOSS’”, Mr Trump said at the time.

In his Truth Social post on Wednesday night, Mr Trump also said he did not want any business with Russia and criticised India, a key economic ally of Moscow. “They can take their dead economies down together,” he said.

His latest comments came after the Kremlin admitted there had been a slowdown in the process to normalise relations between Moscow and Washington.

“So far, the process of normalising (relations with the US) is going nowhere fast,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters earlier this week.

“We’d like to see a bit more movement (in the talks) since that’s what we’re interested in,” he said.

“We would like to see more dynamics. We are interested in this. In order to move forward, we need impulses from both sides.”