Russia on Wednesday said its deal for the Philippines to purchase 16 Russian military transport helicopters is still valid.

Manila last June called off the deal to purchase 16 military transport helicopters from Russia due to fears of possible sanctions by the United States, former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had confirmed.

• Ukraine welcomes cancellation of Philippines' Russia chopper deal

Speaking to reporters, Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov said the Russian side has yet to receive any official communication from the Philippines on the reported termination of the deal.

“I’m not discussing how it should be done but I would like to reaffirm that the Russian side is continuing to fulfill all obligations regarding this contract and we consider this valid until now,” Pavlov said at the Ambassador’s Residence.

“I would like to underline that we have reached mutually a beneficial cooperation in this field and some elements of this contract we just fulfilled.

“We are ready to fulfill all our obligations as a reliable partner of the Philippine side in the field of technical and military cooperation and we consider that it will also be done by the Philippines," he said.

“As an Embassy … We did not receive any official communication on this matter directly to the Embassy.”

Pavlov said the manufacturer continues to assemble the choppers based on the downpayment by the Philippines, adding that Filipino pilots had already been given training.

A chopper unit was ready to be turned over to the Philippines in June, he added, but the Philippines declined to accept it.

“We are still expecting the official notification of the Philippine position but the Russian position is well known. We are still continuing to fulfill our obligation and our producer is still assembling the new helicopters,” Pavlov said.

“We are using the same down payment. The down payment was made for the start of assembling operation. So we are continuing to assemble these units because we received the amount of the money, hence we are respecting, we are fulfilling all the contractual obligation,” he added.

Pavlov stressed the deal was concluded by the previous Philippine administration “without any pressure from Russian side” in the framework of the Philippines’ independent foreign policy.

He pointed out that then-President Rodrigo Duterte had said that the Russian helicopters were “robust” and “solid” and that the choppers were to be used for humanitarian and transportation purposes.

“As I understand, the current administration would like to continue the course of independent foreign policy, and I think it is in favor of independent foreign policy the fulfillment of this very important contract of the Russian Federation and the Philippines,” Pavlov said.

US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson on Monday had said the US State Department has notified US Congress of its intent to make available to the Philippines $100 million in foreign military financing (FMF) after the Philippines said it would cancel a deal with Russia to acquire the choppers.

Carlson thanked the Philippines for canceling the deal that came at the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, saying the funds can be used by the Philippine defense department to fund its modernization or offset the helicopter purchase that the Philippines said will not push through.

• US to make available $100M to PH after cancellation of Russia chopper deal

The Russian envoy said the conflict against Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has termed a "special military operation", was not “unprovoked,” claiming that Russians living in Donbask have been deprived of rights by the Ukrainian government and that Russia wanted to free them of “Nazi ideology.”

He stressed Russia will not initiate the use of nuclear weapons.