by Roy Mabasa
Russia is currently negotiating an agreement of technical military cooperation with the Philippines amid brewing tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
“We fully understand the problems the Philippines has to face with its huge maritime border,” the visiting Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Konstantin Biryulin, told Manila Bulletin in an exclusive interview Friday. “We have similar problems in Russia and we know how to tackle them. That’s why we have a proposal regarding equipments which could help in controlling those areas.”
Aside from finding ways to improve economic cooperation and further develop Russian-Philippine relations, Biryulin said one of the purposes of his visit is to negotiate military technical cooperation with the Department of National Defense (DND). Such cooperation may include, in particular, Russian sale of military hardware.
“Unfortunately our attempt has not yet brought any fruitful and desirable result,” he noted. Russia has in fact earlier bidded for the supply of fighter jets to the Philippines, a contract bagged by a Korean firm.
According to Biryulin, both sides have agreed to hold another round of consultations on military cooperation in Russia so that they could “adjust our position.”
Read the full story at The Manila Bulletin