RUSSIA’s envoy to Manila Ambassador Marat Pavlov said the Philippine government should honor a $38-million military helicopter contract that Filipino officials earlier canceled due to fear of United States sanctions.
Pavlov lamented reports of a decision by the Philippine government under the Duterte administration to terminate a contract to buy 16 military helicopters and added that Russia has not received a formal notice of cancellation.
“We are ready to fulfill all our obligations as a reliable partner of the Philippine side in the field of technical military cooperation and we consider that it will also be done by the Philippines,” Pavlov told a group of journalists on Wednesday evening.
Pavlov said the Russian contractor continues to manufacture the 16 helicopters and that Filipino pilots tasked to operate the aircraft have completed Russian training.
“The downpayment was made for the start of the assembly operation, so we continue to assemble. Because we received the amount of the money therefore fulfilling all the contractual obligation,” he said.
Pavlov said one fully assembled helicopter would have been delivered to the Philippines last June, but the Philippine government rejected it.
The helicopter unit was to be provided free of charge as a side bonus of the deal.
“This is a very important issue of our bilateral relations. It was concluded without any pressure from the Russian side with the previous administration,” Pavlov said.
Malacañang and the Department of National Defense have not yet released statements about the matter.
