Philippines To Join Russia's Int'l Army Games Again In 2019 - Defense Undersecretary
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 24, 2019 | 08:45 PM
The Philippines intends to join the International Army Games, held by the Russian military, in 2019, just as it did last year, the country's national defense undersecretary, Cardozo M. Luna, told Sputnik in an interview
Cardozo Luna is currently on a visit to Russia for the eighth Moscow Conference on International Security. The undersecretary has already held talks with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin to discuss what he described as "blooming" bilateral relations.
"We are now even engaged in the Army games. Our army people joined the competition of snipers last year. This year we plan to join again," Cardozo Luna said.
The International Army Games 2019 will be held from August 3-17. As of April 11, as many as thirty countries have confirmed their participation.
Cardozo Luna went on to note that the dialogue between Manila and Moscow relations had never been so strong.
"But since our president, President [Rodrigo] Duterte, took over, he has some kind of a change of the foreign policy. And his direction is that we become closer to the former non-traditional friends. One of them is Russia of course," he clarified.
The undersecretary recalled that the Philippine president described Putin as his "idol," noting that Duterte's visit to Russia in 2017 marked the start of a deeper relationship.
Duterte had to cut short his May 2017 visit and return to the Philippines due to clashes with Islamist militias that broke out on the Mindanao Island. The sides focused on cooperation in political, military and economic spheres as well as discussed the possibility of Manila buying Russian-made advanced weapons to fight terrorism.
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