The Russian Embassy in Manila has vehemently denied that the courtesy call and meeting of Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev with newly installed Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Filemon Santos Jr. on Monday has something to do with the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
According to Russian Embassy Press Secretary Natalia Linovitskaya, the meeting with Khovaev and Santos is part of the implementation of the agreements signed by the Philippines and Russia during the visit of President Duterte to Moscow last year.
“We are just doing our work on the way to develop bilateral cooperation between our nations, including military cooperation. And the courtesy call by the Russian Ambassador on the AFP Chief F. Santos has nothing to do with the known recent event in US-Philippine cooperation,” Linovitskaya said in a statement.
During the meeting, Linovitskaya said the two officials made a follow-up discussion, among others, on the “current status and prospects of the Russian-Philippines military cooperation.”
“Russia and the Philippines have their own, absolutely independent course in the bilateral cooperation in military and military-technical spheres. We never been depended on the third party,” she said.
The meeting between the Russian envoy and the AFP chief came just days after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., on orders of President Duterte, handed over a notice of termination of the VFA to the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Manila.
Under the VFA, the said notice will take effect 180 days after either of the party has received the termination.
Ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999, the VFA serves as a mechanism for the conduct of visiting US soldiers and for bilateral military exercises and humanitarian work. (Roy C. Mabasa)
