(UPDATED – 10:28 p.m.) MANILA — The Philippine defense department on Wednesday said Russia’s military equipment donation was a sign of closer ties between Manila and Moscow.
“This gesture by the Russian Federation is a sign of deepening relations that we are developing with Russia and the equipment donated will be used by various operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, primarily in counter terrorism efforts,” said Department of National Defense (DND) public affairs chief Arsenio Andolong.
The donation, which was transported by a Russian naval flotilla that arrived in the country last October 20, consisted of 20 multi-purpose Ural 4320 vehicles, 5,000 units of AK-74M Kalashnikov assault rifles, 1 million rounds of 7.62-millimeter steel core bullets, and 5,000 units of SH-68 steel helmets.
On Wednesday, President Rodrigo Duterte toured Russia’s anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev docked at the Manila Port and led the turnover ceremony for the federation’s arms and equipment donation to the Philippines.
The gift came a day after Russia and the Philippines signed two military pacts on the sidelines of the 4th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers’ Meeting – Plus on Tuesday at the ASEAN Convention Center in Clark, Pampanga.
The first pact, signed by DND chief Delfin Lorenzana and Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoygu, was on a military technical cooperation between the two countries, which contained provisions on various areas of the cooperation such as research, production support, as well as a possible exchange of experts and training of personnel for joint programs.
“We are looking at acquiring some equipment for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, but there are no specifics yet,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told Reuters. “We are still discussing.”
The second agreement for the Philippines’ procurement of defense articles from Rosoboronexport, a Russian state-owned company was signed by Lorenzana and the Russian firm’s director-general Alexander A. Mikheev.
Lorenzana said the Rosoboronexport contract was not a sales deal but signaled the Philippines’ intention to acquire small arms, vehicles and special equipment for disaster operations.
U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim on Tuesday played down any U.S. concerns about Duterte’s outreach to China and Russia and noted that the United States, a former colonial power, was the country’s only treaty ally, with far deeper ties in the Philippines.
“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 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.”
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