A former Russian president has threatened ‘World War III’ after Donald Trump criticised Vladimir Putin for his actions in Ukraine.
The US branded the comments by the often-inflammatory Dmitry Medvedev “reckless”, as the war of the words between the two global powers continues to ramp up. However, diplomatic efforts appear to be ongoing despite the public clashes and in a rare move US embassy officials were seen attending a security meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.
The latest tit-for-tat began at the weekend when Trump called the Russian leader “crazy” following an airstrike on Kyiv. He doubled down on the criticism on Tuesday, in a post on Truth Social: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”
Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 and 2012 and is now a top security official, flipped Trump’s remarks, writing: “I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!”
Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, then weighed into the row.
“Stoking fears of WW III is an unfortunate, reckless comment by @MedvedevRussiaE and unfitting of a world power,” he wrote on X. “President Trump @POTUS is working to stop this war and end the killing. We await receipt of RU Memorandum (Term Sheet) that you promised a week ago. Cease fire now.”
The sighting of two US officials from the embassy in Moscow at an international security forum in the Russian capital is notable, as it marks the first time an American delegation has attended such an event since before Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs Eric Jordan and Second Secretary Jeremy Ventuso were both seen at the International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues.
The Russian leader opened up the event, saying that Moscow’s approach to security, which includes its war in Ukraine, remains “fundamental and unchanged”.
The move was likely a “low-cost goodwill gesture” signalling the Trump administration’s “continued desire to normalise relations” with Moscow, says Sam Greene, professor in Russian politics at King’s College London. For Moscow, he added, the invitation is the latest attempt to signal supposed seriousness about talks with the US “without actually giving anything up”.
Just a day earlier, after Trump’s initial comments about Putin becoming “crazy”, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov suggested the US leader was “a man who wants results” but who had “got emotional”.
He added that Europe was trying to “sabotage” the efforts of Russia and the US to broker peace, a reference to efforts to sanction Moscow for refusing to agree to a truce in Ukraine.
“President Trump is a man who wants results,” Lavrov said at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. “He sees some of the Europeans are working to sabotage his efforts [on a peace settlement], pushing Ukraine to absolutely reckless actions.
“Of course, he gets emotional, and, of course, as someone who does not like anything to stand in the way of his noble goals, he looks at it a certain way, shifts rhetoric.
“The most important thing is not to focus on mere rhetoric, but rather to ensure that Europe stops sabotaging our peace plans, which are supported by both the US and Turkey, and to which Russia is fully committed.”
Russian state media has subsequently played down Trump’s latest comments, highlighting that the US president is yet to take any action against Moscow despite his recent warnings.
Dmitry Drize, a Russian political commentator for Kommersant, described Trump’s latest comments as “a skirmish across the ocean”.
“From beautiful phrases about wonderful negotiations, about the fact that a breakthrough on the path to peace is about to happen, Donald Trump has moved on, no, to threats, or rather to reproaches. You can also call it an exchange of pleasantries, a skirmish across the ocean,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, nothing terrible has happened yet.”
“So now the question is whether America will follow Europe in raising the stakes or, as before, limit itself to beautiful phrases and reproaches.”
