Philippine- Russian relations is now on an upswing.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s independent foreign policy extending
friendship to Russia is bearing fruit. To build a stronger ties with Russia and
China is considered as one of the foreign policy of his administration.
Today is a historic moment for the Philippine-Russian relations
since this is the first time Russia donated military equipments to the country.
It has been known that our Armed Forces has been reliant on US made military
hardwares. *
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| 20 military trucks along with the 5,000 units od the AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, ! million pieces of ammunition and 5,000 steel helmets all of which were donated by Russia to the Philippines, at no cost to the country. (photo credit to owner) |
The donation is composed of 5,000 units of AK-47M
Kalashnikov rifles, 20 multi-purpose vehicles, 1 million pieces of ammunition,
and 5,000 steel helmets. The formal donation turnover was witnessed by Duterte
during his tour of the Russian anti-submarine ship Admiral Pantaleyev.
Duterte has repeatedly expressed his desire to procure
military hardware from Russia, brought about by the reports that the US State
Department had stopped its rifle sales to our Philippine National Police,
following opposition from US Senator Ben Cardin.
China a few weeks ago also gave the country 3,000 units of
assault rifle, Defense Secretary Lorenzana said that the said assault rifles will
be used by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
US on Russian donation.
It is very evident that there is warming of ties between
Russia and the Philippines under the presidency of Duterte, Manila’s only treaty
ally the United States is unruffled by it.
"I'm not really threatened by this notion that China
or Russia are providing some military equipment to the Philippines," Kim
told a small group of reporters traveling with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
"We have been providing very important equipment to
the Philippines for many, many years. The fact that the Chinese and the
Russians have provided some rifles, I'm not sure is really such a cause for
concern for the United States." *
US President Donald Trump will visit the country for the
ASEAN meeting, and that shows support to the US-PHL far deeper ties with each
other.
"President Duterte has made clear that even as he
pursues improved relations with countries like China and Russia, he will
continue to focus on making sure that the US-Philippines alliance remains
strong," Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said.
Report from ABS-CBN website
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