Desk Report,
Russia-China joint naval exercises after Trump’s announcement
Recently, US President Donald Trump was very angry at a post by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on social media. In immediate response, he said that he would order the sending of two nuclear submarines near Russian waters. Russia did not immediately respond to Trump’s announcement. However, Russia has started a three-day joint naval exercise with China in the Sea of Japan from Sunday. It is known that various issues of submarine rescue and anti-submarine warfare will be important in this exercise. According to AFP, Russia has strengthened military cooperation with Beijing in recent years. Relations between the two countries have strengthened further since the attack on Ukraine in 2022. In continuation of this, the two countries have started joint naval exercises from today. China’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the exercise. In a statement, they said that this time the naval exercise is called ‘Joint Sea-2025’. The exercise started in the Sea of Japan in the Russian port of Vladivostok. Submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine warfare, air defense and maritime warfare will be the focus of the drills. The Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement that four of its ships are taking part in the drills. The guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi are taking part in the joint drills with Russian ships. After the drills, the two countries will conduct naval patrols in the “relevant waters” of the Pacific Ocean.
Russia-China joint naval exercises after Trump’s announcement
The BBC reported that Russian media outlets have been dismissive of Trump’s announcement of sending nuclear submarines. A military analyst told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper that Trump was just being childish in his anger. A retired lieutenant general told the Kommersant newspaper that the US president’s talk about submarines was “useless nonsense.” He was having fun saying it. A Russian security expert told the same newspaper, “I am sure that Trump did not actually give any orders (to send the submarines).”
Kommersant newspaper, referring to 2017, also said that Trump had said that he would send two nuclear submarines to the Korean peninsula to warn North Korea. A few days later, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. However, Viktor Vodolatsky, a senior Russian lawmaker and deputy head of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Committee in the lower house of parliament, said that Russia has deployed many more nuclear submarines in the world’s oceans than the United States.
The lawmaker claimed that the US submarines had long been under their control. Therefore, there was no need to respond separately.
