Manila, Oct 11 (AFP) President Rodrigo Duterte said todayRussia was giving 5,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles to thePhilippines in what is believed to be the first ever shipmentof Russian weapons to the US ally.
Duterte, who briefly visited Moscow in May as part of apivot away from Washington, said the arms would soon arrive byship.
The United States has traditionally been the mainsupplier of arms to the former American colony.
But the Philippine armed forces, who have been battlingboth communist insurgents in rural areas and Muslim extremistsin the troubled south, remain among the weakest in the region.
"As part of what I got from Russia when we were there foralmost 24 hours, we will have the Kalashnikovs," Duterte tolda gathering of soldiers and police near Manila.
The Russian embassy declined to comment on Duterte'sannouncement.
Duterte did not say which types of rifles from theRussian manufacturer are being shipped to Manila.
"As far as I can remember, the Russians have neversupplied us with any form of matériel in the past," defencedepartment spokesman Arsenio Andolong told AFP.
Duterte, who took office last year, has shaken thePhilippines' 70-year-old alliance with the US as he moves tostrengthen ties with China and Russia.
The firebrand leader has sought out other sources ofweapons as he angrily rejected US criticism of his deadly waron drugs that has left thousands dead.
China this year donated about 6,000 rifles and thousandsof rounds of ammunition to Manila. (AFP)RB.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.