Banned Missile Systems Pop Up in Denmark, Philippines: Lavrov

"Previously banned ground-based systems of intermediate and medium-range missiles are being brought to the Philippines. Just like in other parts of Europe, they have already appeared in Denmark, and now they are (appearing) in the Philippines," he said at a meeting with students and faculty of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), responding to questions about US policy in Asia, TASS reported.

According to the top Russian diplomat, the US has now stepped up its activities in Asia, primarily in Southeast, East and North Asia. "But they act differently than we (Russia) do. They do not respect the rules that were created by ASEAN. They want to split ASEAN. The main goal here is to contain China," he emphasized.

"The Indo-Pacific Strategy was developed for this purpose. It means that the US creates good ol’ boy alliances. Here they have created AUKUS, they have created the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). They are creating the Indo-Pacific Four (IP4) - Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. They are trying to create a semblance of the Quad with the Philippines instead of India. And all this is being done in formats to which neither we, nor the Chinese, nor many other countries are invited," Lavrov concluded.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed between the USSR and the US in 1987. It prevented the deployment of missile launchers, land-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. In 2019, the US withdrew from the agreement. Moscow was ready not to produce or deploy missiles as long as Washington did not deploy these systems in any region of the world.

However, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out, the US not only produces these missiles, but has already brought them to Europe and the Philippines. Now Russia is preparing retaliatory measures, and it is possible that it will also begin to produce and deploy the missiles.