Palace: Duterte, Russian envoy met to discuss Syria crisis, drug war

President Rodrigo Duterte met with Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev in Malacañang on Monday, with their discussion ranging from affirming bilateral ties to the war on drugs as well as the ongoing crisis in Syria, the Palace said on Tuesday. 

Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said Khovaev handed Duterte a personal letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, as both parties “affirmed their mutual support for each other.”

Roque also said Duterte expressed hope that the situation in Syria would not escalate any further in light of the airstrikes carried out by the United States, United Kingdom and France in response to alleged chemical attacks by the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

The President and the Russian envoy also discussed the drug war in the Philippines and the International Criminal Court, from which the Philippines announced its intention to withdraw, according to Roque.

The Palace official did not elaborate on those matters.

Malacañang earlier thanked Russia for respecting the Philippines’ decision to pull out of the ICC after the tribunal started looking into deaths being linked to the anti-narcotics campaign as part of its examination of charges against Duterte.

Khovaev said in a television interview last month that they “fully understand” why Manila took the same route as Moscow, which withdrew its signature from the Rome Statute—the treaty that created the court—in 2016 after the tribunal came out with a report classifying the Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation.

The ambassador said the ICC’s activities “are highly politicized and it's used as an instrument to put political pressure on selective governments.” — BM, GMA News