The Philippines has already taken military aid from Russia, in the form of arms and ammunition purchase. With the South China Sea seeing increasing activities from the Philippines. Malaysia, China, Brunei and Vietnam, Russia wanted to partake in the territory and show off their military and navy strength and supremacy.
With so many countries participating in the South China Sea, reports suggest that Russia isn’t looking forward to creating new ties with the Philippines, but with other nations like China as well. Russia has realized that they need to maintain close relations with the countries in the region if they want to retain their stronghold in the area.
China started intensive dredging operations in the South China Sea, particularly in the Spratly Islands and have also begun forming ports, airfields and weapon stations in the sandbars around the region. This action has revved up the tension in the area.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Russian ships have traveled to the Philippines. They have previously gone there in 2012 and recently in May 2016.
With the Philippines purchasing military and navy equipment from Russia, it felt that the Russian navy coming in and demonstrating these would help them in the future when they have to make use of the same.
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