Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin signed a new "strategic partnership" with communist Vietnam today, a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union soured relations between the Cold War allies.
|
|
Mr Vladimir Putin
|
The two sides gave no details of the agreement although Mr Putin indicated Moscow was ready to help modernise the Vietnamese armed forces while looking for Hanoi's help in its bid to boost its ties with south-east Asia.
"The relations between Russia and Vietnam were never just ideologically based - common strategic interests always lay behind them," Mr Putin said after signing the agreement with President Tran Duc Luong.
"It would be idiotic to lose those relations. We have a duty to maintain and strengthen them."
He stressed Moscow was determined to respect its international undertakings particularly on nuclear non-proliferation but said it stood ready to supply modern weapons systems to Hanoi, which remains Russia's fifth-biggest arms customer.