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| President Duterte and President Putin/photo courtesy of Forbes |
Speaking at a forum in Quezon City yesterday, the Russian
ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev has announced that Russian President
Vladimir Putin has accepted with gratitude the invitation of President Duterte
for him to visit the Philippines.
President Putin will be visiting the Philippines for the
first time after being invited by President Rodrigo Duterte, the Russian envoy
said Saturday.
Ambassador Khovaev is hopeful that President Vladimir Putin
would visit the Philippines “as soon as
possible.”
“This is very
important. The invitation of President Duterte has been accepted by President
Putin with gratitude,” Khovaev said.
“At this moment, I can
only express my hope that this visit will be made as soon as possible. When? I
don’t know. But we’ll do our best to arrange this visit as soon as possible,”
he added.
Khovaev reminded us about Russia’s commitment to work hand
in hand with the Philippines in various fields, including strengthening its
defense capabilities.
“We have the most advanced technologies and we are ready to
share that with our Philippine partners,” he said
The Russian ambassador also announced that they are ready to
establish a small weapons production hub in our country.
He also clarifies that Russian energy company Rosneft Inc. has
nothing to do with the recent firing of an official of the Philippine National
Oil Company (PNOC).
“I would like to
emphasize that... it’s a domestic affair of the Philippines, it’s not our
business. It has nothing to do with the Russian side,” Khovaev said when
asked about the recent firing of Pedro Aquino Jr., the head of the PNOC
Exploration Corporation.
In an earlier report this month, President Duterte fired
Aquino for prematurely negotiating a deal with Rosneft without the
authorization of the board of directors and concerned officials.
The President made the statement he asked Aquino to
step down as a member of the Board of the PNOC-EC and to submit his resignation
before the Office of the President for loss of confidence.
“But I’m happy to say
that this decision has no impact on the cooperation between Rosneft and our
Philippine partners,” Khovaev added.
The Philippines signed P620 million worth of business deals with
Russia during Duterte's five-day official visit to the country early this month.
Source: Philstar
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