President on trip to Asia
Putin stresses Vietnam’s importance for Moscow
Vietnamese President To Lam (l) and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in Hanoi. Photo
© Minh Hoang/Pool AP/AP
The Russian head of state is visiting the long-standing partner country Vietnam in Asia. Ukraine is counting on Hanoi to remain neutral in Moscow’s war of aggression.
Russian President Putin met with Vietnamese President To Lam at the start of his talks in Hanoi. The expansion of the strategic partnership with Vietnam is a priority for Russia, Putin said, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
At the same time, Vietnam is part of the Asian alliance of states ASEAN, with whose members Moscow is in dialogue. Putin also invited the Vietnamese president to Moscow next year for the 80th anniversary of the victory over Hitler’s Germany.
How does Hanoi behave?
During his visit to long-standing partner country Vietnam, Putin is also expected to meet with the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. It is expected that the Kremlin chief will want to expand trade relations and pressure Vietnam to buy weapons from Russia, Vietnam expert Carl Thayer, a former professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, told the German Press Agency. At the same time, Putin wants to show that he is not isolated internationally despite the war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ambassador in Hanoi, Olexander Haman, told the dpa that he did not expect Vietnam to abandon its neutral stance on the war and support Russia. One of the principles of Vietnamese security policy is not to take sides.
The first stop on Putin’s Asian trip to North Korea was specifically about support in the Ukraine war. According to Western information, Russia is buying ammunition and weapons from the isolated communist country. What is less clear is what technical help Russia is providing to North Korea in return. This is viewed with suspicion by Western countries, but also by China. Pyongyang is working on its own nuclear weapons. Putin and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un signed a contract for a strategic partnership.