Trump moves nuclear submarines 'closer to Russia' after former president issued scathing threat to POTUS

US President Donald Trump has ordered nuclear submarines to move to ‘appropriate regions’ after a former Russian leader delivered what he described as a ‘highly provocative statement’.

On Thursday (July 31), 79-year-old Trump alleged that former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev should ‘watch his words’ after he said the Republican’s threat of hitting Russia and buyers of its oil with punitive tariffs was ’a game of ultimatums’.

Medvedev’s warning came after Trump said Russia had ‘ten or twelve days’ from July 29 to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, as per Reuters.

Donald Trump didn't clarify if the vessels were nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

"If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path," the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation said in a post on Telegram.

He added that Trump should remember ‘how dangerous the fabled 'Dead Hand' can be’, referring to Russia's secretive, semi-automated nuclear command system designed to automatically launch if Russian leadership is eliminated in an enemy attack.

Following Medvedev’s comments, Trump took to Truth Social on Friday (August 1) to confirm his administration had moved two nuclear vessels.

"Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions,” he wrote on his social media network.

He explained that moving the submarines was a decision made ‘just in case’ Medvedev’s words were actually threats.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's statement was described as 'highly provocative' by Trump (Contributor/Getty Images)

“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

It is not clear whether the father-of-five was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines in his post.

In a follow-up interview, Trump told reporters that he deemed Medvedev’s comments as threatening.

“We didn't think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful.

"I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia. And we're going to protect our people."

Reuters reported that security analysts have called Trump's move a rhetorical escalation with Moscow, but not necessarily a military one.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group, has called the 47th US President’s potential war move both ‘irresponsible and inadvisable’.

“No leader or deputy leader should be threatening nuclear war, let alone in a juvenile manner on social media.”

The Kremlin has yet to make a public comment on the issue.