Despite the infusing tensions in the West Philippines Sea, Russia
is presently discussing an agreement of technical military cooperation with the
Philippines amid brewing tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
In an exclusive interview with Manila Bulletin in Friday, visiting
Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation,
Konstantin Biryulin, said that they are
fully aware of the problem that the Philippines is presently facing regarding
its maritime border as they have similar problems in their country. That’s why they have an offer regarding
equipments which could help to control the said area.
Biryulin said that one of the purposes of his visit it to
negotiate military technical cooperation with the Department of National
Defense (DND) and such technical cooperation will cover Russian sale of
military hardware. But unfortunately, the Russian’s attempt with the deal was not fruitful.
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| photo credit: 123RF |
Russia has in fact earlier made its bid the supply of fighter jets to the Philippines,
a contract taken by a Korean firm.But Philippines and Russia both agreed to
hold another round of consultations on military cooperation.
“We need to consider the opinion of different Russian agencies
because the scope of responsibilities of your DND is much wider than the
Russian ministry of defense,” he pointed out. “Because here, for example, you
also tackle the issue of emergency response.”
He
added that the equipment that Russia could consider proposing to the
Philippines include “supplies of radar stations and means of interrupting and demolition
of violators.”
