Dmitry Medvedev, Russia\u2019s former president and prime minister, is back in the limelight.<\/p>\n
Last week, United States President Donald Trump warned<\/a> him to \u201cwatch his words\u201d and ordered a repositioning of two US nuclear submarines in response to Medvedev\u2019s online threats.<\/p>\n The repositioning closer to Russia followed \u201chighly provocative statements\u201d from Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of Russia\u2019s Security Council, Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on August 1.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Trump wrote, without specifying the regions or the submarines\u2019 class.<\/p>\n Medvedev, who, despite his title, has no power to order nuclear strikes, retorted with a gloating remark.<\/p>\n \u201cIf some words of Russia\u2019s former president cause such a nervous response from the oh-so-scary US president, it means that Russia is right about everything and will keep going its own way,\u201d Medvedev wrote on Telegram.<\/p>\n \u201cLet [Trump] remember his favourite movies about the Walking Dead [zombie apocalypse series] and about how dangerous can be the \u2018dead hand\u2019 that doesn\u2019t exist naturally,\u201d Medvedev wrote.<\/p>\n The online feud began in mid-July, when Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin, Medvedev\u2019s boss and mentor for three decades, 50 days to make a peace deal with Ukraine.<\/p>\n Medvedev called the ultimatum \u201ctheatrical\u201d and said that \u201cRussia didn\u2019t care\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018Nuclear weapons are not Moscow\u2019s monopoly\u2019<\/p>\n According to a former Russian diplomat, while Trump\u2019s warnings send a signal to the Kremlin, the \u201cnoise\u201d around the submarines has no military significance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat matters far more is that Trump\u2019s words served as a reminder \u2013 nuclear weapons are not Moscow\u2019s monopoly,\u201d Boris Bondarev, who focused on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Medvedev\u2019s comments reflect Putin\u2019s views \u2013 and Trump\u2019s response could return both down to the earth of realpolitik, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cHad such an approach been part of a general strategy to make Putin\u2019s view on the world and his own place in it more adequate, it would have been the beginning of a real end of the war\u201d in Ukraine, said Bondarev, who quit his foreign ministry job to protest against Russia\u2019s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it seems to me that Donald just uttered [his threat] and doesn\u2019t mean anything serious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A pawn in the US-China game<\/p>\n To a Ukrainian military analyst, the Trump-Medvedev feud is part of Moscow\u2019s and Washington\u2019s bigger political games.<\/p>\n \u201cPutin uses Medvedev as a tool to express statements related to nuclear weapons, he doesn\u2019t want to discredit his own good peacekeeper\u2019s name,\u201d Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said ironically.<\/p>\n In Moscow\u2019s \u201cmedia spectacle\u201d with Washington, Medvedev plays the \u201cbad cop\u201d, Romanenko told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Trump\u2019s order to reposition the subs is a step to score a diplomatic victory ahead of his summit with China\u2019s Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n The summit may take place on September 3, when Beijing will lavishly celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan\u2019s surrender that ended World War II.<\/p>\n Putin has already been invited to oversee a military parade in Beijing\u2019s Tiananmen Square, but Trump is still mulling his response.<\/p>\n The online feud may be presented to Xi as a victory of sorts, Romanenko said \u2013 along with Moscow\u2019s possible agreement to an air and sea ceasefire.<\/p>\n The agreement will be forced by the heavy damage Ukrainian drones inflicted on Russia\u2019s military depots, transport infrastructure and oil refineries, Romanenko said.<\/p>\n \u2018Playing the fool\u2019<\/p>\n Trump may not realise that some Russians see Medvedev as a political has-been whose online rants are reportedly<\/a> fuelled by his worsening alcoholism.<\/p>\n He was elected Russia\u2019s president in 2008, after Putin had completed two consecutive presidential terms and could not run for a third time.<\/p>\n The move and the ensuing propaganda campaign to promote Medvedev\u2019s candidacy were nicknamed a \u201ccastling\u201d after the chess term.<\/p>\n It immediately spawned political jokes that ridiculed the real power dynamic between Medvedev and Putin.<\/p>\n In one of them, Putin arrives at a restaurant with Medvedev and orders a steak. The waiter asks, \u201cAnd what about the vegetable?\u201d referring to the choice of a side dish. After a long look at Medvedev, Putin answers, \u201cThe vegetable will have steak, too.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Medvedev cultivated a personal and political image that contrasted with Putin\u2019s.<\/p>\n He started using social networks, met with the rock bands U2 and Deep Purple, and began cautious reforms that made analysts talk about a political thaw and a reset of Russia\u2019s ties with the West.<\/p>\n However, Medvedev\u2019s failed perestroika ended with giant rallies against Putin\u2019s 2012 return to the presidency and massive vote rigging.<\/p>\n The resulting tightening of political screws ended with Putin\u2019s turn to belligerent nationalism and the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Five years later, another wave of popular protests throughout Russia followed the release of a documentary about Medvedev\u2019s luxurious, Monaco-sized palatial complex.<\/p>\n The documentary was made by the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny<\/a>\u2018s team and got tens of millions of views on YouTube.<\/p>\n At the time, as Medvedev served as prime minister, his approval ratings kept waning.<\/p>\n In 2022, Putin unceremoniously sacked him \u2013 and gave him the Security Council job, a sinecure for demoted allies.<\/p>\n