Putin’s visit to Vietnam: From historical friendship to future plans

The Russian president  has met with his counterpart in Hanoi following his historic trip to Pyongyang

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Vietnam, heading a top-level delegation and signing a dozen strategic partnership and cooperation agreements. 

The trip followed on the heels of the Russian president’s state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where a comprehensive new partnership treaty was signed with Kim Jong-un’s government in Pyongyang.

Putin met with his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, parliament speaker Tran Thanh Man, and the general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong. The main topics of the meetings in Hanoi were economic partnerships, trade, and scientific and technical cooperation.

Red carpet in Hanoi

The Vietnamese delegation greeted Putin on the red carpet with a guard of honor, as he landed at Hanoi’s Noi Bai international airport at 2am local time on Wednesday.

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Among the officials who met the Russian president were Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang and Le Hoai Trung, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and head of its Commission for External Relations.

On Thursday, Putin paid his respects at the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi and the Memorial to Fallen Heroes, opened in 1994 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Vietnamese victory over French colonial occupation.

He also invited President Lam to the 2025 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.

Nhan Dan article

Ahead of his visit to the Southeast Asian country, Putin wrote an article for Nhan Dan, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam, where he laid out the agenda for his meetings with the leadership in Hanoi, in particular boosting investments and mutual trade.

“[Russian] food, mineral resources, machinery and equipment are exported to Vietnam. Many Vietnamese goods, including clothing, fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products, are in demand on the Russian market,” he wrote.

Putin also reminded the Vietnamese of the support they received from the Soviet Union in “their heroic struggle against the French, and then the American invaders,” and to rebuild Vietnam afterward.

The Joint Statement

According to the joint communique released in Hanoi, Russia and Vietnam agreed to strengthen their bilateral interaction and create new mechanisms for cooperation. 

Moscow thanked Hanoi for Vietnam’s “balanced and objective stance on the Ukraine crisis,” while Vietnam expressed support for Russia’s fight against terrorism.

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The two countries called for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, opposed the deployment of weapons in space, and endorsed strengthening the role of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in tin regional interstate relations. 

At the Hanoi Opera House

On Thursday, Putin took questions from Vietnamese graduates of Soviet and Russian universities at the Opera House in Hanoi, followed by a gala reception hosted by President Lam.

“I believe that the fight for one’s historical roots, for one’s traditional values ​​is an extremely important aspect for any state, for any country and for any people who want to survive as such and preserve their identity,” the Russian president told his Vietnamese audience.

During the question-and-answer session, Putin addressed topics ranging from science, technology, space exploration and eye surgeries to music, patriotic upbringing and tourism.

Agreements and memoranda

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Putin’s state visit to Vietnam: As it happened

During Putin’s visit, Russia and Vietnam signed a total of 15 documents, including eleven agreements aimed at strengthening the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries. 

According to the Kremlin, the agreements signed concerned higher education, justice, combating epidemics, nuclear technology, offshore oil exploration, tax policy, customs, and transportation.

Particular attention was given to the project led by Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosatom, to build a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology in Vietnam over the next three years.