Russia escalates public spat with US president Trump with World War III threats

Russia publicly threatened World War III on Wednesday after a furious exchange between President Donald Trump and Russian official Dmitry Medvedev exploded across social media.

The row started when Trump warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” by moving 50,000 troops to Ukraine’s Sumy region, a decision Kyiv says could lead to a new northern offensive.

Medvedev, who previously served as Russia’s president and is now a senior security figure, fired back by saying that World War III is the “only REALLY BAD thing” that could happen to Russia and added, “I hope Trump understands this!”

Trump posted his warning on Truth Social on Tuesday, writing, “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened in Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire.”

Medvedev responded in English on X, dismissing the threat and turning it back on Trump. The post drew instant pushback from Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy, who called Medvedev’s words reckless and said, “Stoking fears of WW III is an unfortunate, reckless comment… and unfitting of a world power.”

Wage growth slows as Russia’s economy begins to cool down

As the war drags on, the financial comfort that helped Putin maintain public backing is starting to crack. A Financial Times review of Russian job ads shows that rapid wage increases, which boosted living standards since early 2022, are now slowing.

Between September and December 2024, new job salaries went up by 4.2%, but that growth dipped to 2.2% in the first quarter of 2025.

Meanwhile, real income growth, which includes other income like rent or savings, dropped to 7.1% in early 2025, compared to last year’s 8.3% average, according to Rosstat, Russia’s federal statistics agency.

Economist Konstantin Nasonov, a former researcher at Skolkovo business school, said, “Russia’s economy is under strain, and the problems are piling up… Yet at the same time, people have more money than before. Strange as it seems, these trends aren’t mutually exclusive.”

FT used a method developed by Indeed to analyze online job data. According to Pawel Adrjan, an economist at Indeed, “Companies often adapt to pressures around them by changing terms and conditions for new hires first, rather than existing staff. So these measures often give us good evidence on where the broader labor market is headed.”

For years, Moscow relied on oil and gas exports to stockpile state reserves. When Putin launched the full-scale invasion, that cash was used to flood the economy with defense salaries, army pay, subsidized loans for war-related businesses, and generous mortgage programs.

This sent incomes climbing at record speed in 2023 and early 2024, even though inflation hit 30% over three years. Public surveys by Levada and the Bank of Finland show that many Russians viewed 2023 as their best financial year in over a decade.

But that confidence may not last. A more recent survey by Chronicles, an independent research group, found that 40% of Russians saw no change in their finances, 20% reported improvement, but 40% said things had gotten worse. Alexei Minyailo, co-founder of Chronicles, said, “The harder life becomes financially, the less likely someone is to back [the war].”

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