Trump says Putin should end the Ukraine war, not test missiles

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By Trevor Hunnicutt and Dmitry Antonov

AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin should end the war in Ukraine instead of testing a nuclear-powered missile, and that the United States had a nuclear submarine positioned off Russia’s coast.

Putin said on Sunday Russia had successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a nuclear-capable weapon Moscow says can pierce any defence shield, and will move towards deploying the weapon.

Moscow said the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Petrel) had flown for 14,000 km (8,700 miles). Asked on Air Force One about the test of the missile, dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, Trump said the United States did not need to fly so far as it had a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.

“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores, so I mean, it doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles,” Trump told reporters, according to an audio file posted by the White House. 

“I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying, either, by the way: You ought to get the war ended, the war that should have taken one week is now in … its fourth year, that’s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles.”

KREMLIN SEES NO REASON FOR MISSILE TEST TO STRAIN TIES

Since first announcing the 9M730 Burevestnik in 2018, Putin has cast the weapon as a response to U.S. moves to build a missile defence shield after Washington in 2001 unilaterally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and to enlarge the NATO military alliance.

Asked about Trump’s remarks, the Kremlin said Russia would be guided by its own national interests but saw no reason for the missile test to strain relations with the White House.

“Despite all our openness to establishing a dialogue with the United States, Russia, first of all, and the president of Russia, is guided by our own national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “That’s how it was, that’s how it is, and that’s how it’s going to be.”

The Kremlin said Russia was ensuring its own security by developing new weapons.

“There is nothing here that can and should strain relations between Moscow and Washington,” Peskov said.

WARNINGS OF RISK OF WAR

Trump has repeatedly spoken of moving U.S. submarines to Russia’s coast after remarks by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the risk of war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.

It is rare for either side to discuss in public the location of nuclear-armed submarines.

Speaking about the Russian missile test, Trump said: “We test missiles all the time.” 

“They’re not playing games with us and we’re not playing games with them either,” Trump said.

Reuters reported from Washington on October 25 that Trump’s administration had prepared additional sanctions it could use to target important areas of Russia’s economy if Putin continues to delay ending the war in Ukraine.

Asked if he was considering additional sanctions on Russia, Trump said: “You’ll find out.”

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Dmitry Antonov and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Timothy Heritage)