Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio
HANOI (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Vietnam for its “balanced” stance on the war in Ukraine and listed progress on payments, energy and trade in an article published on Wednesday in the Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper.
In an article to coincide with Putin’s state visit to Vietnam, he applauded the communist-ruled Southeast Asian country for supporting a “pragmatic solution to the crisis” in Ukraine, in comments published in Nhan Dan newspaper.
Vietnam, which officially pursues a neutral foreign policy in its relations with major world powers, refrained from condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine – a position that Western countries considered too close to the Kremlin.
Putin is due to arrive in Hanoi overnight and plans to meet with Vietnamese leaders on Thursday, immediately after his trip to North Korea.
The Russian leader, who is making his first visit to Vietnam since 2017 when he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, said Russia and Vietnam also share “similar assessments of the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Vietnam’s position in the South China Sea differs from that of China, which claims the strategic waterway almost entirely as its own, including gas and oil fields in the Vietnamese exclusive economic zone where Russian companies extract oil and gas.
ENERGY AND PAYMENTS
Putin said energy was “an area of strategic importance in bilateral cooperation” and mentioned joint Russian-Vietnamese fossil fuel ventures in the South China Sea and northern Russia.
Gazprom (MCX:) also operates gas fields in Vietnam, he noted. Russian energy company Novatek “plans to launch liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Vietnam,” Putin said, without elaborating.
He also mentioned an initiative to “establish a Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Vietnam” with the support of Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear power giant.
Vietnam suspended plans to build a nuclear power plant about a decade ago, and it is unclear whether it intends to reconsider that position. South Korea and Canada are among the countries that have offered nuclear power options to Vietnam, according to people familiar with the matter.
Putin also praised progress in finance and trade.
Settlements between the two countries have been complicated by Western sanctions on Russian banks and the issue has long been a priority in bilateral meetings, officials said.
Vietnam has historically been a major importer of Russian weapons.
Putin said transactions in rubles and Vietnamese dong accounted for 60% of bilateral trade payments in the first quarter of this year, up from more than 40% last year.
“The joint Vietnamese-Russian bank plays an important role in ensuring reliable financial transactions,” Putin wrote, referring to the Hanoi-based credit institution established in 2006.
He also noted that bilateral trade is growing.
However, Vietnam’s trade with Russia remains limited, and Hanoi’s main trading partners are the United States and China.