Russian former President Dmitry Medvedev blamed NATO countries on Monday for the abandonment of a moratorium on short- and medium-range nuclear missiles and said Moscow would take further steps in response.

Russia ended its moratorium on deploying medium and short-range nuclear missiles on Sunday, citing NATO actions after U.S. withdrew from INF Treaty in 2019.

In a statement Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry linked the decision to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to develop and deploy intermediate-range weapons.

“Putin uses Medvedev as a tool to express statements related to nuclear weapons, he doesn’t want to discredit his own good peacekeeper’s name,” Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said ironically.

Trump also rebuked Medvedev in July, accusing him of throwing around the "N (nuclear) word" after the Russian official criticised U.S. strikes on Iran and said "a number of countries" were ready to supply Iran with nuclear warheads.