MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Putin lands in Vietnam to strengthen Russia's alliances in East Asia

Kim Jong Un called Russia “a true friend” and its President Vladimir Putin “the dearest friend of the Korean people”

Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Hanoi Wednesday after signing the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement” with North Korea which reshaped the world's military preparedness after Moscow pledged to defend Pyongyang in case of attack by a foreign power. In Vietnam, the Russian president was to hold meetings with local leaders further to strengthen his country's allegiances in the region.

Putin's international policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said the new strategic alliance treaty replaces those signed between Moscow and Pyongyang in 1961, 2000, and 2001.

Putin's entourage included Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov, Deputy Defense Minister Alexandr Fomin, and Alexandr Mikheev, the director of the federal agency for military-technical cooperation. They will all discuss the status and prospects for the development of the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries in the economic, commercial, technological, and humanitarian fields, as well as “exchange views on international current affairs and the regional agenda.”

The 'Nhan Dan' newspaper, the official organ of Vietnam's Communist Party of Vietnam, noted that Putin's visit coincided with the 30th anniversary of the treaty on friendly relations between the two countries.

The Russian president highlighted the great help the Soviet Union provided to the Vietnamese in their “heroic struggle against foreign aggressors” and thanked Hanoi for its balanced stance on the conflict in Ukraine.

According to the Russian president, more than half of all transactions between Russia and Vietnam are now carried out in the respective countries’ currencies, placing the Russian ruble and the Vietnamese dong over US dollars and euros. Large Russian corporations are involved in joint projects in Vietnam, such as gas companies Gazprom and Novatek; oil company Zarubezhneft; car manufacturing group VAZ, and atomic company Rosatom.

“Such transactions accounted for more than 40% of bilateral trade last year, and in the first quarter of this year their share rose to almost 60%,” Putin said, adding this was in line with the global trend towards phasing out the use of “widely discredited currencies” in international trade and investment.

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Putin was hosted by leader Kim Jong-un, with whom he signed a treaty pledging to strengthen cooperation in all areas and to defend each other from a potential foreign attack. According to Putin, these talks included “security issues and the international agenda.”

The Kremlin leader thus unveiled part of the content of the new roadmap for bilateral relations between the two countries, which are being strengthened in the wake of the Russian deployment in Ukraine and in the face of pressure on Pyongyang and Moscow from Washington and its allies.

Both Russia and North Korea “oppose the use for political purposes of sanctions, which only serve to undermine the international situation,” Putin argued while calling for the reviewing of the US-sponsored UN Security Council “indefinite restrictions regime” on North Korea which includes an arms embargo. “We will continue to oppose the imposition of strangling sanctions, which the West has turned into a tool of maintaining its hegemony in politics, the economy, and other areas,” the president vowed.

“Our countries consistently advocate the establishment of a more just, democratic, and multipolar world order. Russia and North Korea develop an autonomous and independent foreign policy and do not accept the language of blackmail and dictation,” the Russian president stressed.

“Despite external pressure, our countries are successfully developing on a sovereign and independent basis, they have been and are providing mutual support to each other as true friends and good neighbors,” Putin added during his first trip to North Korea in 24 years.

Moscow supports Pyongyang’s intention to protect its security and sovereignty from possible Western aggression, which is its right, Putin said. “The document on a comprehensive partnership that we have signed today provides, among other things, for mutual aid in case of aggression against one of the participants,” the president added while holding the US and its allies responsible for the increasing tension in the region. “Overused Western propaganda tropes can no longer hide their aggressive geopolitical intentions, including in Northwestern Asia,” Putin stressed.

He also noted that Western nations were supplying advanced weapons to Ukraine and had given Kyiv the green light to strike Russia. Under these circumstances, “Russia does not rule out the development of military cooperation with the DPRK under the document signed today.”

Earlier this month, Putin had warned the West over Kyiv’s desire to use donated weapons to conduct attacks deep inside Russia. Should that happen, Moscow could send similar types of weapons to enemies of the West, which could use them to strike the military assets of the US and its allies.

Kim Jong Un called Russia “a true friend” and its President Vladimir Putin “the dearest friend of the Korean people.”

“At this moment, as the whole world turns its eyes to Pyongyang, where a friendship mission from Russia has arrived, I stand with my Russian comrades, true friends, and associates, in this solemn hall,” Kim Jong Un said after the “very robust treaty” between Russia and North Korea.