The United States has become more and more frantic in its actions to maintain its shaky so-called "global hegemony".
In the past, the United States had already deployed the US Army's so-called "Typhon" medium-range missile system to the Philippines during the US-Philippine "shoulder-to-shoulder" military exercise, and although the United States carried out "temporary deployment" in the name of the so-called "exercise," and although it only deployed one company, this move still aroused a high degree of vigilance among neighboring countries. In particular, Russia, which is not far from the deployment of US missiles, is even more concerned about this.
If we want to talk about why Russia is very vigilant about this, we have to start with the "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty" signed between the Soviet Union and the United States. Compared with long-range ICBMs, medium-range missiles are more flexible in their use and deployment, so they can easily create a situation that cannot be managed. Therefore, in order to ease the situation and promote peace, the United States and the Soviet Union, the two major countries of intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the time, jointly signed the "Treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Intermediate-Range Missiles" in 1987, referred to as the "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," according to which neither the United States nor the Soviet Union can retain, produce, or test land-based cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 km to 5,500 km. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia also inherited and followed this treaty.
However, as the situation has changed, the United States has a "crooked mind" of redeveloping and deploying medium-range missiles. So in 2018, the United States repeatedly accused Russia of violating the treaty under various pretexts and unilaterally decided to withdraw from the treaty, and in 2019, the United States took the lead in starting the process of withdrawing from the treaty. In this case, Russia also had to respond by saying that it would stop fulfilling the INF Treaty. In the end, when the United States and Russia failed to comply with the treaty, the "INF Treaty" was finally formally abolished.
However, before that, although the United States and Russia had ceased to fulfill the "INF Treaty," the United States and Russia had basically maintained a certain "tacit understanding" and had not deployed intermediate-range missiles in each other's vicinity. However, in order to suppress Russia's space and form military pressure on Russia, the United States has taken the initiative to break this "tacit understanding". For example, in 2023, the United States has used the MK70 to launch the "Standard Six" missile during joint exercises with Denmark, which can launch not only the "Standard Series" anti-aircraft interceptor missile, but also medium-range cruise missiles such as Tomahawks, which quickly aroused Russia's alarm.
This year, however, the United States has gone one step further in its "coercion" against Russia, and as mentioned above, the United States has deployed the "Typhon" missile to the Philippines, which obviously means that the United States has the intention of deploying this kind of missile in Russia's Far Eastern rear. You must know that the US "Typhon" missile system is also capable of launching Tomahawk missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, and if launched from the northern part of the Philippines, its strike range is sufficient to cover some inland areas in the western Pacific, and it has a powerful ability to attack the ground and strike in depth. This is undoubtedly like a man's back for Russia! If Russia faces US missile pressure in both Europe and Asia, then the pressure on Russia can be imagined.
In this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly stated at a meeting a few days ago that the United States is now deploying medium-range missiles in Europe and the Philippines, and Russia needs to "respond to this and decide on further measures." Putin said that even after the abrogation of the INF Treaty, Russia has been fulfilling its promise that "as long as the United States does not deploy such systems anywhere in the world, Russia will not produce these missiles and will not deploy them." However, the situation has changed, and the United States has deployed such missiles outside the United States. Putin also specifically mentioned the Philippines, saying he did not know whether the United States had already transported the missiles deployed in the Philippines.
Therefore, in this case, Putin alluded that Russia is likely to be able to respond forcefully to the actions of the United States only through a reciprocal response of "for tat", that is, Russia also resumes medium-range missile production and global deployment.
As a matter of fact, as far as Russia is concerned, since the United States has taken the initiative to take the lead in deploying medium-range missiles in Europe and the Philippines, it has actually broken the tacit understanding, so of course Russia has no need to give the United States "face" anymore. And if the United States really further deploys intermediate-range missiles at Russia's "doorstep", then it will undoubtedly hang a sharp sword over Russia's head, and Russia will never remain indifferent. The author believes that Russia's relations with Belarus, Cuba and other countries are now good, and Russia is very likely to deter Europe by deploying missiles in Belarus and to deter the United States by strengthening cooperation with Cuba. Now, Russia and the DPRK have also signed a treaty of a defensive nature, which is very likely to mean that the cooperation between Russia and the DPRK will also be deepened.
All in all, the brazen deployment of medium-range missiles by the United States in Europe, the Philippines, and other places will inevitably provoke strong countermeasures from Russia, and this move is very likely to trigger a new round of global tension and further intensify the "rivalry" between the United States and Russia.