The defense cooperation between Russia and the Philippines is a matter of bilateral relations

The Russian government issued a scathing rebuttal against US assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs Randall Schriver for warning the Duterte administration against the purchase of submarines from Moscow.

The Russian Federation has never made comments on foreign relations of the Philippines, Russian Ambassador Igor Anatolyevich said in a social media post.

Schriver earlier had cautioned the Philippines against buying large-scale weapons like submarines from Russia.

“I don’t think that’s a helpful thing to the (US-Philippine) alliance and ultimately I think we can be a better partner than the Russians,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has introduced an independent foreign policy in which relations were diversified to the strengthening ties with non-traditional partners China and Russia and away from historical ally the United States.

The Russian ambassador called Schriver’s comments as a form of interference.

“And we do not intend to do it (issue comments) in the future. At the same time we expect other countries to do likewise and to refrain from interfering into the relations of the Russian Federation and the Republic of the Philippines as two independent sovereign states and equal partners,” Anatolyevich said.

Anatolyevich said the defense cooperation between Russia and the Philippines is a matter of bilateral relations and does not involve any third country.

“This cooperation is in full compliance with all existing international arms control regimes. We believe it meets the strategic interests of the Philippines and will definitely contribute to regional peace and stability,” he said.

He also criticized terms that Schriver mentioned in reference to Russia.

“We cannot but note the outrageous remarks of Mr. Schriver about Russia itself which government he called ‘regime.’ It is worthwile to remind Mr. Schriver that such term is used for those rulers who swept into power through coup d’état or other unlawful means,” he said.

He recalled the United States and the European Union sponsored radical nationalists in Ukraine in 2014 which “put into power a regime that triggered a civil war in the eastern part of this country.”

“In Russia, unlike in the United States of America, all heads of executive and legislative bodies from the level of municipality to the federal level are elected by direct democratic vote. There are no countries that refused to recognize the results of any elections in Russia,” he said.

Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said aside from the submarines, the Duterte administration is also studying the possibility of purchasing naval vessels from Russia.

Sorreta told a Russian news agency the government is now comparing terms of the Russian government with other proposals.

“We are looking at the naval vessels. We had people come here to look at the documents, look at the vessels. And the process will continue. They will have to look at other countries and then come up with a decision,” he said.

“Russian equipment are getting to be very desirable for many developing countries,” Sorreta said. “They prefer Russian equipment and the terms are good,” he said.

The Filipino diplomat said Moscow does not set any political terms in the arms trade, unlike some other capitals.

“Russia’s terms are reasonable and they don’t have what’s called ‘political conditionality.’ When we buy something, you trust that we will use it well. With some countries, when we buy something they put limitations, conditionalities,” Sorreta said.