The INF Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (Russia) was signed in 1987, which stipulates that the two countries will no longer possess, produce or test land-based cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 km to 5,500 km. In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump accused Russia of repeatedly violating the treaty and announced the U.S. withdrawal; A year later, Russia also announced its withdrawal from the INF Treaty.
Against this background, the United States has begun to produce and deploy medium-range missiles, and even used the opportunity of military exercises to deploy them to the Philippines. Later, the United States did the same, and then shipped the medium-range missile system to Denmark in Europe. So, Russia decided that it could not bear it.
According to reference reports, recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video conference that the United States withdrew from the "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty" under a fabricated pretext a few years ago and announced the production of relevant missile systems. What is known today is that the United States is not only producing, but has also shipped it to Denmark in Europe for military exercises. Not so long ago, American medium-range missiles were also deployed in the Philippines. Putin stressed that Russia needs to respond to this, start producing strike systems and, depending on the actual situation, decide where to deploy them. In this regard, we will talk about three topics.
First, the US military medium missile has been deployed in the Philippines?
Since withdrawing from the "INF Treaty," the United States has been looking for deployment sites in the Asia-Pacific region and has held consultations with Japan, the ROK, Australia, and other allies, but all three countries know that the United States is deploying intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region to deal with China and Russia, especially China. Given China's economic and military prowess, the United States, Japan, and Australia have all politely rejected U.S. demands. Later, the news from the United States was that the US military was preparing to deploy the medium-range missile to Guam, but Guam was more than 3,000 kilometers away from Chinese mainland, and even the threat of deployment was greatly reduced.
Against this background, the United States has not stopped its work on site selection. The Philippines is a special envoy, and when former President Rodrigo Duterte was in power, he had a very average relationship with the United States, and he also explicitly ordered the Philippine military not to participate in any of the exercises in the South China Sea. Why? Doing so would spur China, and the Duterte administration wants to put aside the South China Sea disputes with China and increase cooperation in other areas, with more than 40 government projects on both sides alone, and Philippine fruits opening the door to the Chinese market.
Therefore, the United States did not consider the Philippines at all. However, after Marcos became president of the Philippines, he not only opened more military bases to the United States, but also willingly acted as a "pawn" of the United States to provoke China in the South China Sea. As a result, the two sides hit it off and deployed medium-range missiles with a range of 1,700 kilometers to Luzon Island in the northern Philippines.
First, both the United States and the Philippines have this demand, which is aimed at China; Second, the deployment of the INF to Luzon Island not only includes the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, but also the southeast coast of China into the scope of the strike, which is a better position for the United States than the deployment of the United States, Japan, and Australia.
Second, why did Russia react?
After the successful deployment in the Philippines, the United States has made more and more moves, because the deployment of the Philippines only solves the problem of "dealing with China", and for Russia, it is beyond the reach of the whip. As a result, the United States took the opportunity of the exercise to tow the medium-range missile system to Denmark, and after the operation in the Philippines, the United States will most likely deploy the medium-range missile to Denmark in this form, because the biggest opponent of NATO led by the United States in Europe is Russia.
From the geographical location, it can be found that Denmark has locked the Baltic Sea exit, that is, locked Russia's outlet to the sea in the northwest direction, and is only 700 kilometers away from the Russian "enclave" Kaliningrad, and more than 1,000 kilometers away from St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, which can already pose a threat to Russia. Moreover, Denmark is also surrounded by neighboring NATO countries, such as Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland, etc., even if it is counterattacked by Russia, NATO can immediately erect an "anti-missile net", and in the European direction, it is also a very suitable deployment location.
In this regard, of course, Russia has clearly seen that Putin's request for the production of targeted "strike systems" and the selection of deployment sites according to the actual situation is to neutralize the threat of the United States deploying intermediate-range missiles in Europe. Of course, Russia's actions will also be aimed at the deployment of the US military in the Philippines, after all, if the US military deploys medium-range missiles with a range of more than 5,000 kilometers to the Philippines, the Russian Far East will also enter the strike range.
Russia has always been very tough on strategic security. For example, when NATO insisted on eastward expansion and hoped to deploy missiles to Ukraine, Putin made it clear that if this is the case, NATO missiles can fly to Moscow in only 12 minutes, and Russia has no effective reaction time, so this is Russia's red line. But NATO did not heed the warning and continued to push the matter, which eventually led to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Now, after a popular referendum, Russia has incorporated the four eastern and southern regions of Ukraine into Russian territory, which is to set up a "strategic buffer zone" between NATO and Russia.
Third, what do Filipinos think about this?
As for the Marcos government's introduction of wolves, all circles in the Philippines do not agree. Former President Rodrigo Duterte said, "The Philippines has become a launcher for the United States, and it is clear that this is the result of the United States instigating it behind the scenes." However, it has brought danger to the Philippines." As a congressman, Marcos' sister Yimei was also dissatisfied with the move, saying that Marcos's cooperation with the United States has put the Philippines at a disadvantage.
Lambino, chairman of the Philippine "Association for Understanding China," bluntly said that in the 90s of the last century, we drove out the Americans and dismantled their naval and air bases in the Philippines. Today, the number of US military bases in the Philippines has increased to nine, "Are you serious?" Do you really want the Philippines to become a battlefield? As a Filipino, as an Asian, I don't want my country to become a battlefield."
China immediately reacted to the Philippines' agreement to the United States to deploy intermediate-range missiles, and Chinese drones have appeared around it many times, and the coordinate data should be clear. The reason why it has approached many times is probably to tell the Philippine government that if you do this, you will only make Philippine territory a target for Chinese missiles? China's Ministry of National Defense has said that this is the first time since the Cold War that the United States has deployed intermediate-range missiles overseas and in the Asia-Pacific region, which will put the entire region under US artillery fire, bring huge war risks into the region, and seriously impact the regional security pattern.