Russia and Vietnam vow to strengthen ties as Putin visits
Russia and Vietnam have pledged to deepen ties as Vladimir Putin’s Asian tour aims to bolster alliances to counter Moscow’s isolation over the war in Ukraine.
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Russian leader Vladimir Putin has travelled to Vietnam, a close ally of Moscow since the days of the Cold War, going directly from a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un where he won a pledge of “full support” on Ukraine, signed a mutual defence pact, and gave Kim a parting gift of a bulletproof limousine.
Vietnamese President To Lam indicated a desire to strengthen ties.
“The two sides want to push up co-operation in defence and security, how to deal with non-traditional security challenges on the basis of international law, for peace and security in the region and the world,” Mr Lam told reporters after talks with Mr Putin.
Russia has been Vietnam’s main arms supplier for decades, accounting for more than 80 per cent of imports between 1995 and 2023, but orders have dropped off in recent years as international sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict have intensified.
The two sides said in a joint statement that their defence and security co-operation was “not directed against any third country” and contributed to “peace, stability and sustainable development” in the region.
Mr Lam and Mr Putin signed around a dozen co-operation agreements ranging from education to justice and civil nuclear projects.
Mr Putin told reporters the talks were constructive and that both sides had “identical or very close” positions on key international issues.
Mr Putin later held talks with Nguyen Phu Trong, the powerful general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, and laid a wreath at the memorial to independence leader Ho Chi Minh.
Mr Putin’s Asia tour came as Western powers stepped up sanctions aimed at constraining Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Vietnam, a major global manufacturing hub that has carefully hedged its foreign policy position for years, has abstained in UN votes condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, in an op-ed in the Communist Party mouthpiece Nhan Dan newspaper, Mr Putin thanked Hanoi for its “balanced stance on the Ukraine crisis”.
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PUTIN GIFTS KIM BULLETPROOF LIMO
Vladimir Putin has gifted Kim Jong-un a bulletproof limousine while on his first state visit to Pyongyang in 24 years.
Footage released by Russian state TV showed the political heavyweights testing the $A667,000 Russian-built Aurus on the lavish grounds of a guesthouse with no protective officers in sight.
Mr Putin, 71, was behind the wheel before switching places with Mr Jung-un, 40.
The pair have struck up friendship in recent years with Mr Putin’s thoughtful gift sending the bromance into overdrive.
North Korean state media said that the leaders shared “their pent-up inmost thoughts” during their car ride.
Mr Putin also handed Mr Jung-un an admiral’s dagger and a tea set.
This is the second time Mr Putin has gifted Mr Jung-un a Russian-made Aurus limousine, after he sent an armoured version to Pyongyang in February this year.
Earlier this week, Mr Putin openly declared his intentions to evade UN economic sanctions as the two countries expand trade in prohibited goods like missiles.
Meanwhile, a pledge of military co-operation is part of a strategic treaty signed during a summit in Pyongyang.
During Mr Putin’s visit, “the ardent friendship of the two countries will be strengthened,” Mr Jung-un said.
“Relations between our countries are entering a new era of blossoming, which cannot be compared even with the period of Korean-Soviet relations of the last century,” he added, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
“It is really a breakthrough document,” Mr Putin told a news conference in the North Korean capital, adding that it provided, “among other things, for mutual assistance in case of aggression against one of the parties to this treaty”.
Mr Putin also said Russia “does not rule out military-technical co-operation with the DPRK in connection with the treaty that was signed today,” referring to North Korea by its official name.
Mr Jung-un called Mr Putin the “dearest friend of the Korean people” and said his country “expresses full support and solidarity to the Russian government” over the war in Ukraine, which has triggered rafts of UN sanctions on Moscow.
The two countries have been allies since North Korea’s founding after WWII and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 isolated Mr Putin on the global stage.
Moscow and Pyongyang’s close ties have sparked anxiety in the West, which believes Russia has been procuring and using North Korean weaponry to wage its military offensive in Ukraine.
PUTIN, KIM EMBRACE IN RARE MEETING
Vladimir Putin kicked off a visit set to boost defence ties between the two nuclear-armed countries early Wednesday.
Just after the pre-dawn touchdown, Russian TV showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un greeting Mr Putin in the dark, on a red carpet at Pyongyang’s airport, with the pair shaking hands and embracing before a motorcade took Mr Putin along streets lined with Russian flags.
The trip is Mr Putin’s first to the isolated nation in 24 years, with a recent confrontation between North and South Korean troops on the countries’ shared border highlighting regional security tensions.
Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after WWII and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the West isolating Putin internationally.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with much-needed arms, including ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine.
The North has denied giving Russia military hardware, but ahead of his trip, Mr Putin thanked Jung-un’s government for helping the war effort.
“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” Mr Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang’s state media.
Russia and the North are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership”, Mr Putin wrote.
Both countries are under rafts of United Nations sanctions — Pyongyang since 2006 over banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Putin praised North Korea for “defending their interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades”.
It comes amid reports of a potential war crime after Russian troops were given orders to decapitate Ukrainian soldiers in a barbaric move.
Andriy Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, released an appalling image of a severed head that was placed on the bonnet of a Kozak-2 Ukrainian armoured vehicle used for troop transportation.
He said in a statement: “This is dreadful barbarism that has no place in the 21st century.”
“This is further confirmation that the aggressor’s war crimes are not isolated instances, but rather a part of the Russian regime’s planned policy.
“These criminal orders were issued by the occupation forces’ battalion and company commanders. We will not let these crimes go unpunished.”
BILL SHORTEN ATTENDS UKRAINE PEACE SUMMIT
Nuclear disaster was a key focus at an international Ukraine peace summit attended by almost 100 nations at a luxury retreat in Switzerland.
More than two years after Russia invaded, leaders and top officials from around the world spent the weekend at a Swiss mountainside resort for a landmark two-day summit dedicated to resolving the largest European conflict since World War II.
Russia — and China, its closest ally — have snubbed the event.
Speaking to media on Sunday, Australia’s delegate Bill Shorten said he thought “Russia has heard the message loud and clear” that peace is the only way forward.
Though not an expert in international relations, Mr Shorten was personally selected by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to Ukraine.
Australia has so far contributed more than $1 billion in military assistance and humanitarian aid and is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine’s ongoing battle.
However, the government recently decided not to oblige a request for helicopters and coal.
“The government, instead of sending a shipment of coal, has provided the equivalent in cash. Rather than pay the insurance costs of the shipping, why not send them the money to an energy fund and let them use it in the best way they can?” Mr Shorten told SBS.
“The Ukrainians are pretty happy with that, I can assure you and no doubt there will be more contributions as this sad and tragic war continues.”
RUSSIA BATTERS POKROVSK
Russian forces concentrated their firepower on the Pokrovsk front in the eastern Donetsk region, where weekend strikes wounded at least six civilians.
The Kremlin annexed the industrial territory in late 2022, months after invading, and its forces are making incremental gains there.
“The enemy is intensively attacking Ukrainian defenders in the Pokrovsk sector,” the Ukrainian military said in its evening briefing.
“The situation is difficult, but controlled by the Defence Forces. Our soldiers are making efforts to prevent the enemy from advancing deep into Ukrainian territory.”
US SIGNS MAJOR SECURITY DEAL WITH UKRAINE
The US and Ukraine signed a bilateral security pact at the G7 summit in Italy, in a deal that seals the US’s long-term security relationship with Kyiv for 10 years.
However, the deal could be undone pending on whether Donald Trump wins the US election in November this year.
The agreement follows months of negotiations between the US and Ukraine and is expected to commit the US for 10 years to continued training of Ukraine’s armed forces, providing and producing weapons and military equipment, and greater intelligence sharing.
But the pledge is expected to be an “executive agreement”, sources said, making it less formal than a treaty and not necessarily binding for any future presidents.
Mr Trump has not explicitly said whether he would continue support for Ukraine if he wins in November, saying only that he would negotiate a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine war without explaining how.
He has also pushed European countries to contribute more to their own defence and said he’d “encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” if Europe didn’t increase its defence funding.
– with AFP
Originally published as Russia and Vietnam vow to strengthen ties as Putin visits
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