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Friday, March 29, 2024

Duterte to visit Russia in October

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President Rodrigo Duterte will go to Russia next month to make up for his state visit that was cut short in 2017, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Friday.

Duterte’s trip ended earlier than expected after deadly clashes between government troops and Islamic State-inspired militants had erupted in Marawi, forcing him to return home.

“The President will go to Russia next month to make up for his first state visit that was aborted within half a day of arriving by the fall of Marawi to jihadists including foreign fighters,” Locsin said.

“The US, Australia, Russia and China extended help in retaking that city though the main credit goes almost entirely to our Armed Forces who took it back in door-to-door fighting,” he added.

Locsin said this on Thursday as he defended his department’s proposed P22.65-billion budget for 2020 before the Senate finance sub-committee.

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Russia provided trucks and weapons to government troops months after Duterte’s visit to Moscow.

Duterte previously called Russian President Vladimir Putin his “favorite hero.”

The two leaders first met in Peru during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November 2016.

Last April, Duterte and Putin were among the heads of states who attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China.

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