HANOI, Viet Nam (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed at least a dozen agreements with his Vietnamese counterpart on Thursday and presented Viet Nam with a statewide scale to obtain fossil fuels, adding natural gas, as Moscow seeks to strengthen ties. with Vietnam. Asia to compensate for its growing foreign isolation following its war in Ukraine.
Putin and President To Lam agreed to cooperate on education, science and generation, oil and fuel exploration and white energy. The two countries also agreed to work on a roadmap for a nuclear science and generation center in Vietnam.
Of the 12 publicly announced agreements, none referred to the defense.
Putin said the two countries shared an interest in “developing a security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region, with no room for “closed political-military blocs. ” Lam added that Russia and Vietnam are willing to “cooperate more on defense and security to address non-traditional security challenges. “
The agreements between Russia and Viet Nam are really as extensive as the pact Putin signed on Wednesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which promised mutual aid in the event of an invasion, said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior researcher for Russia and Eurasia International. Institute for Strategic Studies in London and former British ambassador to Belarus.
Putin’s recent visits to China and now to North Korea and Viet Nam are attempts to “break the isolation,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
Giang said Russia is vital to Viet Nam for two reasons: it is the Southeast Asian nation’s largest supplier of military equipment, and Russian oil exploration technologies support Viet Nam’s claims. Viet Nam’s sovereignty in the disputed South China Sea.
Viet Nam has also allowed Russian state oil company Zarubezhneft to expand an offshore block on its southeast coast.
On the South China Sea, Lam said the two sides will “support safety, security, freedom of navigation and aviation,” as well as the settlement of disputes peacefully and in accordance with foreign law, without the use of force, according to the Vietnamese state. media.
Putin arrived in Hanoi from North Korea on Thursday morning after signing the strategic agreement, which comes as the two countries face developing confrontations with the West and could mark their most powerful link since the end of the bloodless war.
In Hanoi, Putin also met with Viet Nam’s toughest politician, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to Viet Nam’s official news agency.
Putin visited Viet Nam’s presidential palace on Thursday afternoon, where he greeted schoolchildren waving Russian and Vietnamese flags.
Much has changed since Putin’s last stop in Viet Nam in 2017. Russia is now facing a series of United States-led sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war. crimes, making it difficult for the Russian leader to travel abroad. The Kremlin rejected the order, calling it “null and void,” emphasizing that Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
Putin’s vacation drew a sharp rebuke from the United States embassy in Viet Nam, which said “no country deserves to give Putin a platform to publicize his war of aggression and allow him to normalize his atrocities. “If Putin is allowed to do so freely, “it could normalize Russia’s gross violations of foreign law,” he said in a statement.
The United States and its allies have expressed growing concerns about a conceivable arms deal in which North Korea supplies Russia with much-needed munitions for use in Ukraine in exchange for Russian economic aid and generational transfers that could increase the risk posed by the Kim’s nuclear initiative. weapons and missile programs. . .
Both countries deny allegations of arms transfers, which allegedly violate multiple U. N. Security Council sanctions that Russia had approved in the past.
Viet Nam will supply significant quantities of weapons to Russia and jeopardize the progress it has made with NATO members in terms of military equipment, specifically with the United States. said Ridzwan Rahmat, a Singapore-based analyst at defense intelligence firm Janes.
“I think Vietnam would not need to take the threat of incurring the wrath of Western countries by supplying the Russians,” Rahmat said.
Hanoi and Moscow have had diplomatic relations since 1950, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of a treaty of “friendly relations” between Viet Nam and Russia. Prashanth Parameswaran, a researcher at the Wilson Center’s Asia Program, said Viet Nam is “strengthening” this relationship. even when diversifying with new partners.
Evidence of this long history and influence can be seen in Vietnamese cities such as the capital, where many Soviet-style apartment buildings now seem small among the skyscrapers. A statue of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, stands in a park where young people skate each and every night. Many leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam studied at Soviet universities, including party leader Trong.
In an article written for Nhan Dan, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, Putin thanked “Vietnamese friends for their balanced position on the Ukrainian crisis” and praised the country as “a firm supporter of a just global order” in matters of foreign law. . equality and non-geopolitical interference.
Vietnam’s pragmatic policy of “bamboo diplomacy” – a word coined by Trong to refer to the flexibility of the factory, which bends but does not break in the face of the headwinds of global geopolitics – is being put to the test.
Viet Nam, a production powerhouse and a vital player in global supply chains, hosted U. S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2023.
Putin’s is vital for Hanoi from a diplomatic point of view, said former ambassador Gould-Davies.
“Maybe it’s simply a matter of Vietnam appearing to be able to maintain this very agile balance of its bamboo diplomacy,” he said. “Already, in the course of a year, they have hosted the heads of state of the 3 toughest countries in the world, which is impressive. “
For Russia, it appears to have been more a matter of optics than anything else, he said, as Moscow seeks to engage and influence other countries, especially in the so-called Global South.
“Since the start of the war, Putin has not been able to do much or very far, and has made very few trips outside the countries of the former Soviet space,” he said.
Viet Nam has remained impartial in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But impartiality is increasingly delicate.
Vietnam wants the United States to advance its economic ambitions and diversify its defense ties, Parameswaran said. “He will have to carefully calibrate what he is doing with Russia in an environment of emerging tensions between Washington and Moscow. “
The bilateral industry between Russia and Viet Nam amounted to 3. 6 billion U. S. dollars in 2023, 171 billion U. S. dollars with China, and 111 billion U. S. dollars with the United States.
Since the early 2000s, Russia has accounted for about 80% of Viet Nam’s arms imports. This figure has decreased over the years as the Vietnamese have diversified their supplies. But it will take time to completely disconnect from Russia, Giang said.
Given Putin’s foreign isolation, Vietnam is doing the Russian leader “a huge favor and can expect favors in return,” Andrew Goledzinowski, Australia’s ambassador to Vietnam, wrote on the social media platform.
“Viet Nam will act in its own interests and not those of others,” he wrote.
AP David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.