MANILA -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has reconnected with his "favorite hero" -- Russian President Vladimir Putin -- over COVID vaccines at a time when a new maritime feud has driven a wedge between Manila and Beijing.
The two leaders held a virtual summit on Tuesday, with Duterte ordering 20 million doses of Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. The move diversifies Duterte's sources of pandemic support beyond U.S. and China as tensions between Manila and Beijing in the disputed South China Sea simmer.
