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Russia 'treading carefully' after Trump's order to move nuclear submarines

Russia is "treading carefully" after Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved closer to the country, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute has said.

Speaking to our presenter Darren McCaffrey, Samuel Ramani said Trump is "trying to show that he's serious" by taking a tougher stance on Russia.

"He also wants to pre-empt Russia's ability to engage in nuclear threat mongering and nuclear brinkmanship like they do often when there are tensions with the United States," he said.

Ramani explained that Russia is being careful after what he described as a "definitive movement" away from peak levels of nuclear threat mongering at the start of the war.

"I don't think the Russians are going to escalate drastically," he said.

"Dmitry Medvedev might fire off and return, but that is more reflective of his idiosyncrasies and his desire to pander to he ultranationalist and not really a reflection of Putin's thinking or Russian state policy."

Turning to Medvedev, Ramani said he has tried to "reinvent himself" since the start of the war in Ukraine.

"He has become a kind of unlikely champion of the extremist groups inside Russia," he added.

"Previously, he was somebody who was actually seen as much more moderate than Vladimir Putin and somebody who could oversee a potential reset in Russia-Western relations."

Watch the full interview in the video below.