President Donald Trump issued a rare threat of nuclear escalation on Friday, saying he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be strategically positioned near Russia in response to what he said were aggressive remarks by Dmitry Medvedev,

For decades, the threat of nuclear conflict between the US and the Soviet Union hung over humanity. Now, only one nuclear arms pact between Moscow and Washington is still standing: New START, which experts say is on the ropes and set to expire in February in any case.

Russia's top military and political officials joined Putin in the closed city of Sarov, which houses the Russian Federal Nuclear Center, on Aug. 22.

Russia's nuclear shield should be strengthened in coming years due to the "colossal threats" facing the world's biggest nuclear power, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation said on Thursday.

Russia is facing "colossal threats" that mean it must continuously improve its nuclear weapons "shield," the chief of the state atomic energy agency warned. Nuclear rhetoric and threats have increased over the almost three-and-a-half years since Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrence forces on high alert as Moscow's forces poured into Ukraine in early 2022.

Sanctions were imposed on Russia’s VTB Bank in February 2022, and it was kicked off the interbank payment system called SWIFT. SWIFT is the global messaging network that enables banks worldwide to communicate and process international money transfers, and without access, VTB should have been isolated from global finance.

Oleksandr Donii was one of the leaders of student-led protests for sovereignty and political reform in 1990 that preceded Ukraine’s declaration of independence. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine quickly declared independence in 1991 and later conducted a referendum backed by more than 90% of voters.

The nuclear exercises in the Minsk region coincide with President Donald Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.

Talk of mounting nuclear readiness towards Russia could overshadow more trifling domestic matters, like the Epstein scandal, for instance.