Visited North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday Vladimir Putin continues its journey towards Vietnam today.
The visit of the Russian president has been prepared in the country for several days. The streets of Hanoi, the country’s capital, are decorated with the colors of the Russian flag, blue, white and red. In addition, thousands of Russian flags have been erected in various parts of the city.
Putin will spend two days in the capital of Vietnam. Ylen’s Asian correspondent Mika Hentunen sees many dimensions in Putin’s visit.
After the war of aggression it started in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has become very dependent on China. In Vietnam, Putin is likely to seek a change to this situation.
The two countries are supposed to conclude large trade agreements concerning Russian crude oil and natural gas. Previously, it supplied oil and gas to the European market.
Hentunen believes that with his visit, Putin will also try to increase his prestige in the so-called countries of the global south, where not only Western countries but also Russia and China are trying to increase their influence.
Last weekend, more than 80 countries and organizations signed the final resolution of the Swiss Peace Conference and supported the peace plan drawn up by Ukraine. According to Hentunen, it has a certain kind of symbolic meaning that Putin is heading to Asia just days later.
Putin is still not seen globally as a political outcast, even if the West would like him to be.
Good relations between Vietnam and Russia were established decades ago
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union armed the guerrilla forces of North Vietnam, as they fought against the US-backed South Vietnam.
After North Vietnam, which ran a communist social system, was defeated in the Vietnam War, the country has maintained close relations with Russia.
Russia is still Vietnam’s largest arms supplier. In addition, Russian companies pump oil and gas from Vietnamese-administered fields in the South China Sea.
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese completed their university studies in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Some of them now work in the management of Vietnam’s largest companies and the country’s ruling Communist Party.
Putin is still a hero in the eyes of Vietnamese youth
The positive attitude toward Russia and the country’s ruler does not seem to have weakened among Vietnamese youth either.
On the eve of Putin’s visit, several young students in Hanoi say they are excited about Putin’s visit.
– I like Putin very much. He takes every visit Ho Chi Minhin a wreath for the mausoleum. He is also very kind to everyone. That’s my idea of Putin. He is also a very tough person. Just the way a man should be, a 22-year-old student living in Hanoi Nguyen Huu Huy Khoi says in an interview with the Reuters news agency.
– I like Russian President Putin. I hope that his visit will increase solidarity, cooperation and friendship between our countries, 20 years old Pham Hoang Hai Dang tells.
– Putin’s visit is a matter of honor for Vietnam and Russia. I believe that this visit will make Russia expand its cooperation with Vietnam. It would strengthen our country’s economic and diplomatic development, 17-year-old Nguyen Dieu Linh says.
Many young people in Vietnam know Putin only through the image created by the country’s state media. The Vietnamese media have tried to ignore the war in Ukraine and the criticism directed at Russia by the West.
The United States was angered when Putin’s visit was revealed
The fact that Vietnam has also warmed its relations with Western countries and the United States in recent years also brings its own additional tone to Putin’s visit.
The United States became Vietnam’s largest business partner last year.
In the White House, the Russian president is treated mainly as an internationally wanted scoundrel. Therefore, Putin’s visit will cause quite a blow to the deepened relations between Vietnam and the United States.
– No country should give Putin a pedestal on which he can stand promoting his war of aggression and normalizing his terrible actions, a representative of the US Embassy in Hanoi tells the news agency Reuters.
However, much depends on how relations between Vietnam and Russia continue to develop.
Former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize-winning diplomat Henry Kissinger argued at the time that the United States has no permanent allies or enemies, only interests.
By promoting relations, Vietnam and the United States aim to act as a joint counterforce to China’s power politics in the Indo-Pacific region. Like many other countries, Vietnam also has ongoing border disputes with China. China has systematically sought to claim new territories for itself.
At the moment, however, cheap Russian energy seems to be of more interest to Vietnam than US protection.