Vietnam has prepared a red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He will arrive in Hanoi on Wednesday (June 19) night. The visit by Putin, who is accused of war crimes in Ukraine, is being considered as a propaganda visit. His visit could bring both benefits and risks for Vietnam’s communist leaders. These things have been revealed in a report of the British news agency Reuters.
Putin will arrive in Hanoi on Wednesday night after hugging and meeting with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang. North Korea and Russia are facing international isolation. However, Vietnam has maintained a cautious alliance with the United States and the European Union. The country has already been criticized by the United States for inviting the Russian leader.
Alexander Vuving of the Hawaii-based Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies said the visit to Vietnam has become important for Russian leader Putin because of US opposition. Russia wants to send a message to the world that it has friends everywhere and that Western attempts to isolate Moscow have failed.
Noting that Hanoi has its own interests, Vu Ving said Russia has a unique and important role in Vietnam’s foreign policy. Hanoi’s main arms supplier is Moscow.
Following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the West, led by the United States, imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin on charges of war crimes in Ukraine. He has been denying such allegations. Neither Russia nor Vietnam are members of the ICC.
Vietnam will be Putin’s third country to visit after taking office for a fifth term in May. Earlier he visited China and North Korea. He has been traveling very little abroad since the ICC issued his arrest warrant.
Putin will visit Vietnam for the first time since 2017 and for the fifth time in total. He will be accorded a full state welcome. Police have been deployed on several roads starting from the airport in Hanoi.
Both countries have a communist heritage. Millions of Vietnamese cadres studied in the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. Nguyen Phu Throng, the current head of the Communist Party of Vietnam, is one of them.
According to an article in Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense Daily, President Vladimir Putin has made many contributions to the Vietnam-Russia relationship.
Vietnam’s key partner, the United States, opposed Putin’s visit. A spokesman for the US embassy in Hanoi said no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression.
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