Navy chief Rear Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said the US, Russia, China along with 15 other countries have confirmed that they are sending their warships to the Philippines to take part in the IFR. Bacordo said that Russia’s plan to send warships to the Philippines for this year’s IFR was personally relayed to the Navy by Moscow’s military attache in Manila. US and China, meanwhile, have yet to inform the Navy leadership how many and what type of warships they are sending to the IFR. He said that more warships are expected to join the yearly international naval event once the participants have finalized their respective naval deployments. He added that almost all navies in the Indo-Pacific region have confirmed their attendance to the naval event, which was held in China last year.

Source: Philippine Star February 27, 2020 16:30 UTC