(Eagle News) – Both the Philippines and Russia have ““affirmed their mutual support for each other” after a meeting in Malacanang between President Rodrigo Duterte and Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev.
Presidential Spokesperson said that the Russian Ambassador, in his meeting with President Duterte, handed a personal letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said that the two discussed the Philippine government’s war on drugs and the ongoing crisis in Syria wherein the Philippine leader expressed his hope that the situation in Syria would not worsen as there were around 1,000 Filipinos in the country.
The Department of Foreign Affairs had earlier said it was ready to assist Filipinos who would want to return to the Philippines, following airstrikes in Syria by the combined forces of the United States, France and Great Britain last Saturday.
The meeting also came as the Philippine leader insisted on his stand that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction to investigate him amid allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the government’s campaign to rid the country of illegal drug syndicates. The complaint before the ICC was filed by Atty. Jude Sabio, a lawyer of a self-confessed hitman, Edgar Matobato, who had been presented before as a witness in senate hearings on Davao killings.
The Russian ambassador, in earlier interviews, said he understood President Duterte’s decision to withdraw from the ICC or the Rome Statute, the same as what Moscow had done in 2016.
The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, on March 17 this year.
The United Nations notified the ICC on March 19 that the Philippines “had on 17 March 2018 deposited a written notification of withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the Court’s founding treaty, with the United Nations Secretary-General as the depositary of the Statute.”
“The Court regrets this development and encourages the Philippines to remain part of the ICC family,” the ICC said in its statement.
Russia withdrew from the ICC in November 2016, after the international court referred to Russia’s annexation of Crimea as an occupation and proceeded to examine allegations of war crimes committed by Russian and Georgian forces during a brief 2008 war.
The Russian foreign ministry called the court “one-sided and inefficient” in 2016 when Russia withdrew from the ICC. (Eagle News Service)
