Russia signs deals with Vietnam, strengthening ties in Asia

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese counterpart To Lam at the Presidential Palace, in Hanoi. Vietnam, June 20, 2024. (Photo/Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a series of deals with his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam, during a state visit that comes as Moscow is seeking to bolster ties in Asia to offset growing international isolation over its military actions in Ukraine.

The two signed agreements on Thursday to further cooperation on education, science and technology, oil and gas exploration and health. They also agreed to work on a roadmap for a nuclear science and technology centre in Vietnam.

Following the talks, Putin said that the two countries share an interest in "developing a reliable security architecture" in the Asia-Pacific Region based on not using force and peacefully settling disputes with no room for “closed military-political blocs."

This was echoed by Vietnam's new President To Lam, who said they seek to further "further cooperate in defence and security to cope with non-traditional security challenges" while implementing energy projects and expanding investments.

He also congratulated Putin on his re-election and praised Russia's "domestic political stability."

The agreements between Russia and Vietnam were not as substantial as an agreement Putin signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the previous day, pledging mutual aid in the event of invasion said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and a former British ambassador to Belarus.

US rebuke

Putin arrived in Hanoi early Thursday morning from North Korea, where he and North Korean leader Kim signed an agreement that pledges mutual aid in the event of war.

The strategic pact that could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War comes as both face escalating standoffs with the West.

Putin also met Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, as well as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to the official Vietnam News Agency. He is also scheduled to meet parliamentary chief Tran Thanh Man.

Russia is keen to maintain "close and effective cooperation" in energy, industry, technology, education, security and trade, Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Gennady S Bezdetko said on Wednesday, according to Vietnamese official media.

The trip has resulted in a sharp rebuke from the US Embassy in the country.

Much has changed since Putin's last visit to Vietnam in 2017. Russia now faces a raft of US-led sanctions for its military campaign in Ukraine.

In 2023, the International Criminal Court in Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes. The Kremlin rejected it as "null and void," stressing that Moscow doesn’t recognize the court's jurisdiction.

Breaking international isolation

Putin's recent visits to China and now North Korea and Vietnam are attempts to "break the international isolation," said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

The US and its allies have expressed growing concerns over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its use in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.

Both countries deny accusations of weapons transfers, which would violate multiple UN Security Council sanctions that Russia previously endorsed.

Meanwhile, Russia is important to Vietnam for two reasons, Giang said: It is the biggest supplier of military equipment to the Southeast Asian nation, and Russian oil exploration technologies help maintain its sovereignty claims in the contested South China Sea.

"Russia is signaling that it is not isolated in Asia despite the Ukraine war, and Vietnam is reinforcing a key traditional relationship even as it also diversifies ties with newer partners," said Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Asia Program.

It is unlikely that Vietnam will supplying significant quantities of weapons to Russia, because that would risk progress the country has made with NATO members on military equipment, particularly the US, which has donated naval patrol vessels and is in talks to supply aircraft, said Ridzwan Rahmat , a Singapore-based analyst with the defence intelligence company Janes.

"There is progress that you wouldn’t have imagined just 10 years ago,” he said. “So I would imagine Vietnam wouldn’t want to take a risk, inviting the wrath of Western countries by supplying the Russians."

Hanoi and Moscow have had diplomatic relations since 1950, and this year marks 30 years of a treaty establishing "friendly relations" between Vietnam and Russia.

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Source: TRT