Russia sharing intel on IS with Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – Security officials of the Philippines and Russia are sharing intelligence information over the movements of Islamic militants heading to Southeast Asia.

Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev said Manila and Moscow are combining efforts to monitor Islamic State (IS) militants migrating to the region following their defeat in the Middle East.

“So, we’ll closely cooperate. We’ll continue our efforts in our struggle against terrorism because terrorism is a transboundary threat. Now we see that after the defeat of terrorist organizations in Syria, we cannot rule the appearance of terrorists from the Middle East,” Khovaev told a media briefing Tuesday.

He stressed intelligence cooperation is needed by both countries and other states in the region in dealing with the IS militants.

“Our countries will share sensitive information in this aspect. Our intelligence agencies will continue to cooperate in this field. I cannot go into details in this respect, but I would like to assure that my country has a lot of experience in this field (terrorism),” Khovaev said.

He added Russia has many excellent experts and anti-terror specialists that can help the Philippines in its anti-terrorism campaign.

“We’ll do our best to help your country with no political conditionality, simply because terrorism is a our common threat,” Khovaev said.

At the same briefing, Khovaev said Manila’s procurement of military helicopters from Russia is a work in a progress.

“Russians and Filipinos are working on that. So, I like to remind you that Russia produces the best helicopters in the world,” he said.

Khovaev stressed Russia is capable of supplying helicopters to the Philippines, including the Mi-17 medium twin-turbine transport.

He added Russia is ready to deliver Mi-17s once an agreement is forged or signed.

“We are ready and I hope we’ll supply Russian helicopters to the Philippines. So, both sides are actively working on that and I’m sure we are on the right track. I believe that in the near future our Philippine partners will use Russian helicopters,” Khovaev said.