Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. leave after delivering press statements following the Russia-ASEAN summit in the central Russian city of Kazan on June 18, 2026. Alexander Nemenov / POOL / AFP
KAZAN, Russia — The Philippines is “shedding” the idea that there is a “bipolar power arrangement around the world,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday after his first trip to Russia, where Manila and Moscow committed to forge closer economic and people-to-people ties.
Marcos Jr. referenced the Cold War, when the Philippines was "very much aligned with the United States on the other side of the Soviet Union."
The Cold War ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 but Marcos Jr. acknowledged "institutional momentum" that has limited relations with Russia.
“We have shed that kind of idea, and we look at the world in a much more, much different way than we did in 1976 when we first signed our agreement — our diplomatic agreement — with the then Soviet Union. And so we are adjusting that,” he said.
Marcos Jr.'s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had also cultivated stronger ties with non-traditional allies like Russia and China as part of his administration's foreign policy.
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INCREASED TRADE SOUGHT
An increase in the bilateral trade between the Philippines and Russia is among the adjustments that Marcos pushed for during his visit here.
“Ang pinag-uusapan dati lang, agrikultura, mga petroleum supplies. Ngayon, kasama na diyan ‘yung energy stability, pati food supply, food exchange, ‘yung import-export sa pagkain,” the Philippine president said.
“We import from them. They hopefully will. We can export to Russia. Maraming areas talaga na nakita namin,” he said, adding that agriculture is “one of the best areas” of possible partnerships between Manila and Moscow.
The US has been supporting the Philippines’ push to modernize its defense and maritime security systems and has committed to funding a strategic economic corridor Luzon. But Washington has imposed higher tariffs on Philippine exports under the Trump administration despite high-level negotiations.
There was “a recognition that the world has changed,” Marcos said when asked what was the tipping point that pushed the Philippines to veer away from heavy reliance on the US, its treaty ally and former colonizer.
“The traditional power structures and the traditional powers are no longer the powers that exist,” he said.
“So, the Philippines is just responding, adjusting to the new reality,” he said.
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Aside from Russia, Marcos has also been forging closer ties with other like-minded nations like Japan, Australia, Canada, and Germany in recent years.
“I already said that the Philippines no longer subscribes to a bipolar world where you have to choose one side over the other,” Marcos said.
“During this [ASEAN-Russia] Summit, there was a lot of talk about multipolarity and the multipolar world that we now have to deal with, which may be a little bit more complex, but it also provides more opportunities than we had before,” he said.