RUSSIA is ready to provide all modern weapons to combat the ISIS-inspired Maute group, President Rodrigo Duterte said after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin before being forced to return to the Philippines.
“They are also ready. I said, we are waiting. I need firearms, I need soft loans because we are a very poor country,” Duterte said upon his arrival after cutting short his trip following the Marawi attacks.
“Where’s your list. He did it three times. I’m very happy. Maybe that’s an indication that … he never said no.”
Duterte’s meeting with Putin was scheduled for Thursday but was brought forward to Tuesday night due to his declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
“I came [to Moscow] to secure your support and to confirm our friendship,” Duterte told Putin.
Duterte expressed regret that he had to leave Russia early after “ISIS units occupied the province [Mindanao], and there are still fighting and clashes there.
“Of course, our country needs modern weapons. We had orders in the United States, but now the situation there is not so smooth, and in order to fight ISIS with their units and factions, we need modern weapons,” Duterte told Putin.
Before his arrival in Russia, Duterte signaled his interest in buying small arms, helicopters and jets from Moscow to fight the drug war and the insurgency.
While Washington used to supply weapons to Manila, Duterte had previously said procuring arms from the United States might be challenging because the US was heavily criticizing the alleged human rights abuses in his country.
“Of course, cooperation in the military-technical field is possible,” Putin told Duterte at the Kremlin.
Putin said Russia and the Philippines had “many promising areas of interest” to cooperate on, adding that the package of documents to develop bilateral ties would be signed Wednesday.
“We have many promising areas of interest including power engineering, transport infrastructure, energy and, of course, military-technical cooperation,” Putin said.
“Our employees and colleagues did a good job and prepared a whole package of documents. Your ministers will remain here [in Moscow] and tomorrow this package of documents, which is aimed at the development of our ties, will be signed,” Putin told Duterte.
Putin also expressed his condolences over the killing of two soldiers and one police officer after the Islamic State-aligned Maute Group occupied parts of Marawi City.
“I want to express my condolences in connection with the death of people in your country that happened as a result of the terrorist attack,” Putin said, adding that the Russian people “fully understand” why Duterte was forced to cut short his trip in the country.
“I want to express hope that the conflict will be resolved as soon as possible with minimum losses,” Putin said.