Following Duterte’s official visit to Moscow, Russia and the Philippines signed a package of agreements, highlighted by the agreement on military cooperation. Media reports suggested that Russia may be offering the Philippines some form of soft loans in the initial stage of military equipment procurement.
"One of the agreements that was signed… will be intelligence exchange on terrorism, terrorism financing. We are looking forward to implementing that exchange," Sorreta said in an interview published Monday.
The Philippine southern island of Mindanao is regularly subjected to attacks by terrorist groups, in particular, Maute, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Abu Sayyaf militant groups, linked with Daesh terrorist group.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit the Philippines in August, while Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will pay a visit to Manila in November to attend the 12th East Asia Summit, the ambassador said, adding that Philippine Secretary of Presidential Communications Martin Andanar would visit Moscow in July to hold a meeting with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
