Opinion | Philippines resets relations with Russia as Ukraine war sours ties across Southeast Asia

Manila’s U-turn on a major defence deal with Moscow leaves few links between the formerly friendly nations

The break-up is a sign of Russia’s waning influence in a region where most nations are wary of Western sanctions and generally uneasy about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

Reading Time:3 minutes

Published: 8:45am, 22 Aug 2022

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte once described his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as “my favourite hero”. During his tenure, Duterte oversaw a new era in bilateral relations with Moscow, one that was driven by both personal and strategic motives.

Amid escalating tensions with the West over human rights issues, Duterte found in the Kremlin a sympathetic and powerful patron. As a long-standing US treaty ally, the Philippines represented a major strategic prize for Putin. After six years of flirtation with Russia, however, the Philippines seems to have soured on the burgeoning partnership.

In his final months in office, Duterte openly criticised Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, while his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, seems uninterested in any engagement with the Eurasian power. The Philippines recently scrapped its only major defence deal with Russia, a US$227 million helicopter deal, to avoid potential Western sanctions.

Russia has tried to counter Western sanctions by providing sweetheart energy deals to major Asian economies such as China and India. Nevertheless, it has seen its once-blossoming relations across Southeast Asia rapidly losing momentum, thanks to the barrage of Western sanctions as well as instinctive unease over the invasion of Ukraine.

Then Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte meets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, on May 23, 2017. Photo: AP

Over the past decade, Russia had gradually transformed itself from a marginal player in Asian affairs into a potential “third force” amid rising Sino-US rivalry. This was particularly the case in Southeast Asia, where it emerged as a major arms supplier.

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