06 December 2016

News Story: Russia, Philippines to develop military cooperation, reject new blocs in Asia-Pacific

MOSCOW, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Top diplomats of Russia and the Philippines said Monday that the two countries are ready to develop bilateral cooperation in the military sphere, but are against the idea of creating new military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.

"As far as military alliances and military blocs are concerned, our position is that security issues in the Asia-Pacific region should be resolved on a non-bloc basis, on a universal basis," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a joint news conference with his Philippine counterpart, Perfecto Yasay.

He added that Russia wants all countries in the region to feel that there are agreements "reliably ensuring equal and undivided security for each of them."

Read the full story at Xinhua