Duterte asks Putin for 'soft loan' for arms

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and asked him to supply weapons for the Philippines to fight terrorism.

In scenes filmed by media, Duterte asked the Russian leader for a “soft loan” for weapons “because the arms that we ordered from America were cancelled and there are problems now with ISIL, there's a rebellion.”

However, Duterte had to cut short his visit to Moscow after Islamic extremists on Tuesday attacked the southern Philippine city of Marawi. He declared the Philippines' south under martial law for 60 days, in order to enable government forces to carry out searches and arrests and detain rebel suspects more quickly.

“We definitely can cooperate in the military-technical sphere,” Putin told Duterte during their meeting.

(CGTN)