Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 12) — A Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official expressed disapproval of a Ukrainian diplomat’s move to share to the press that Manila has not responded to their request for a phone meeting between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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“Ukraine is a country we have a good relationship with, but when matters like these are vented by representatives of another government through the press, it’s not something that we appreciate,” DFA Undersecretary Carlos Sorreta said in a Malacañang briefing on Thursday.
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The day before, the chargé d’affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Malaysia told reporters that his country formally requested the meeting in June last year.
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The diplomat said Marcos’ office has yet to reply despite Ukraine “following it up regularly, twice a month.”
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“If he wants this to happen, we have to discuss it,” Sorreta said. “These things are arranged, the talking points are discussed, there’s pre-discussion.”
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“It’s not good diplomatic practice to be doing it the way he did,” he added. “I think I’ll leave it at that.”
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In a separate statement, the DFA said the two countries have held high level-interactions as recently as November 2022, when Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on the sidelines of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summits in Cambodia.
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The department also noted that Manila has publicly supported efforts in the United Nations (UN) not only to seek a peaceful end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also to address the urgent issue of displaced civilians.
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Marcos himself had called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which began in February last year and which has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, based on UN data.
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