by Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — The Philippine Navy (PN) on Thursday announced that three Russian Navy vessels will be paying a five-day goodwill visit to Manila next week.
Navy spokesperson, Capt. Jonathan Zata, said the visiting Russian vessels are the Admiral Tributs, Vinogradov and Irkut.
Admiral Tributs and Vinogradov are classified by the Russian Navy as “large, anti-submarine ships” while the Irkut is called a “large sea tanker”.
Zata said the ships will be docking at Pier 15, Manila South Harbor at about 9 a.m. on Monday.
“The PN will render customary welcome ceremony upon arrival of the vessels,” he said in a statement.
Earlier, PN flag-officer-in-command, Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad, said Russian and Filipino naval cooperation is expected to get a much-needed boost as both nations are set to sign a naval cooperation agreement this July.
He added that the initial agreement is already finalized and that they will forward it to the Department of National Defense (DND) for approval.
Once the DND gives its approval, Empedrad said they will go to Russia to sign the agreement, which is expected to strengthen the relationship of the two countries.
