Vietnam, Russia declare new strategic partnership HANOI - President Vladimir Putin, on the second leg of a tour aimed at reasserting Russian influence in Asia, declared a new strategic partnership with old Cold War ally Vietnam on Thursday. In the declaration, Vietnam supported Putin's stance on U.S. missile defense while the Russian president said Hanoi wanted to buy new Russian armaments. The two countries also agreed their energy joint venture, Vietsovpetro, would explore a 37.5-square-mile block off Vietnam's southern coast and Russia offered loans to finance Vietnamese hydropower projects. Putin arrived on Wednesday on the second leg of an Asian tour intended to boost Russian influence in the region, which weakened dramatically after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite Moscow's massive military and economic support for Vietnam during the Cold War, Putin is the first Kremlin chief to visit the country, one of the world's few remaining communist states and once a key extension of Soviet power in Asia. Putin and Vietnamese counterpart Tran Duc Luong signed the declaration on strategic partnership after a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace. Asked at a news conference with Luong about further military cooperation, Putin replied: "Vietnam needs not just to maintain its existing weapons bought from the Soviet Union and Russia but also needs modern weapons. Vietnam wants and can afford to buy new weapons." Putin did not elaborate on the types of weapons sought by Vietnam, where the armed forces remain reliant on Russian arms. Strategic naval base Serious talks were expected during his visit on the strategic naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, for which Moscow's lease expires in 2004, but the deputy head of the Kremlin administration, Sergei Prikhodko, played the issue down. "We have an agreement signed in '79 and we have a lease on the base to 2004," he told reporters. "This agreement reflects our rights to use the base without any payments. We did not discuss the issue during this visit as there was no basis for such discussions," he said. Any talks would only come in the future, he added. Analysts had not expected any final deal on Cam Ranh Bay during Putin's visit, but had said the issue would set the tone for future ties as well as Russia's strategic aims in Asia. Analysts say the base in south-central Vietnam, used by Japan in World War Two and then by the Americans in the Vietnam War, is vital to Russian strategic interests in the region. Vietnam does not object to Russia's presence but wants it to boost lease payments. Both Washington and Beijing eye the facility enviously for its strategic and commercial potential. Russian Deputy Foreign Minster Alexander Losyukov said last week Moscow expected "long and difficult talks on the problem." What leverage Moscow has, in addition to arms supplies, is in Soviet-era debt owed by Vietnam, estimated at $1.7 billion. Deputy Premier Viktor Khristenko told reporters the debt issue was "completely solved" and Moscow was looking at ways to use part of it to train Vietnamese students and specialists in Russia. "We don't need further global talks." he said. Vietnam and Russia signed an agreement in September cutting the Soviet-era debt, previously estimated at $11 billion, by 85 percent and allowing for repayment of the rest over 23 years. Analysts do not expect repayment in hard currency but believe Russia will be seeking business and other concessions. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, whom Putin was to meet later, told Khristenko on Wednesday he wanted focus on specific cooperation projects to boost trade. He said Vietnam was ready to give priority to Russia in cooperation and investment. Khai said current bilateral trade, which is estimated at about $400 million, was far below potential. Luong said the Vietnamese people "warmly welcomed" Putin's visit and the government considered it "a new stage in the Vietnam-Russian relations." Despite praise for Moscow in recent days in the state press, especially for its backing in the 1975 communist victory in the war against U.S.-backed South Vietnam and in building socialism, popular reaction to Putin has been muted. As his motorcade drove from the airport on Wednesday evening small groups, totaling only perhaps a hundred residents, stood by the roadside waving Russian and Vietnamese flags. The numbers were far smaller than those who turned out late at night last November to greet Bill Clinton who was the first U.S. president to visit the country since the Vietnam War. By Dmitry Zhdannikov - Reuters - March 1st, 2001.

Vietnam, Russia sign deal HANOI - The leaders of Russia and Vietnam signed a deal expanding strategic ties Thursday, a move that reunites Hanoi with its one-time communist benefactor and gives Moscow its strongest ally in Southeast Asia. Vladimir Putin's visit, the first by a Russian or Soviet leader despite a half-century of diplomatic ties, was widely lauded by Vietnamese leaders and the state-controlled press, but has drawn only muted public interest. Only a scattering of people were on hand to wave Vietnamese and Russian flags as Putin's motorcade pulled into Hanoi late Wednesday. It provided a sharp contrast to the thousands who spontaneously filled the streets during President Clinton's arrival last November. Putin received an official red-carpet reception Thursday morning at Hanoi's ornate Presidential Palace before he and Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong moved into closed-door talks. The two agreed to promote strategic cooperation, but did not immediately elaborate on the agreement. Last year, the two countries reached an agreement on repaying Vietnam's debt to the former Soviet Union, a long-standing barrier to closer ties. Vietnam agreed to pay $1.7 billion over 23 years. The leaders were to sign agreements on expanding economic and trade ties, particularly in oil and gas, and increasing military cooperation and science and technology exchanges. However, talks on renewing Russia's lease on a key military base in southern Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, set to expire in 2004, were expected to be difficult. The base, once used by U.S. forces, serves as Moscow's strategic foothold in the region. China and the United States are both believed to be interested in gaining access to the massive base. Coming off a South Korea visit, Vietnam is the second leg of Putin's Asian tour aimed at boosting Russian influence in the region. The Soviet Union was Vietnam's mainstay during the Vietnam War, supplying military and economic assistance to communist North Vietnam, but relations have been strained since the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago. By Tini Tran - The Associated Press - March 1st, 2001.

Vietnam accords Putin red carpet welcome denied to Clinton HANOI - Communist Vietnam rolled out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday as he began the first full day of a landmark state visit here. Banners around the capital welcomed Putin in an official tribute denied to former US president Bill Clinton on his historic visit here just three months ago. In a sign of Hanoi's determination to counterbalance its improving relationship with Washington, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai "reaffirmed Vietnam's unshakeable stance of regarding Russia as its major partner," the official media reported. The programme for the visit clearly sets out to build on the close relationship of the 1980s when tens of thousands of Vietnamese professionals were trained in the former USSR. On Friday Putin is to deliver a keynote speech at the Vietnamese-Soviet friendship hall before an audience of Soviet-trained technicians which will be broadcast live on state television in a direct parallel with Clinton's visit. But in eve-of-visit talks with Deputy Prime Minister Victor Khristenko, Khai also stressed that "specific and broad measures" were needed to boost an alliance that was badly hit by the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. During the 1980s the USSR accounted for 80 percent of Vietnam's trade, but exchanges with Russia accounted for less than 400 million dollars last year. Putin was due to sign as many as 10 separate cooperation agreements with President Tran Duc Luong after the formal welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace. The agreements were expected to cover oil and gas and nuclear energy cooperation, technical training and new regulations for labour exports between the two countries. Boosting trade and investment forms a large part of a landmark agreement signed by Khai in Moscow last year finally resolving the vexed issue of Vietnam's 1.8 billion dollar Cold War debt. Both sides are particularly keen to expand the activities of oil and gas joint venture VietSovPetro, which forms a large part of Moscow's remaining two billion dollars of investments here. Its output of 12 million tonnes of crude a year from offshore fields in the South China Sea accounts for more than 80 percent of Vietnam's total production. The two sides were also due to sign a political declaration setting out their common vision of a multipolar world. Moscow is keen to build on its longstanding relationship with Hanoi to boost its relations with southeast Asia in general. Also on the cards are discussions on the future of the air and sea base in Cam Ranh Bay on the southern coast. The base, rented by Russia, is the keystone in what remains of the strategic alliance between the two former ideological allies. The discussions on Cam Ranh Bay are shaping up to be the litmus test on the future of bilateral relations. Since 1998, Russia has sought to renegotiate the 2004 expiry of the lease of the site, an American base during the Vietnam War. According to intelligence experts the base is the hub of Russia's operations and communications in southeast Asia. Vietnam is believed to want to continue renting the base to Russia, reaping an annual rent of between 300 to 400 million dollars, but Moscow has only offered 40 million dollars, according to experts. These discussions remain a sensitive area for Hanoi as they are likely to play a pivotal role in ongoing relations with China, the United States and Vietnam's partners within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who are wary of Russia's diplomacy and military presence in the area. Agence France Press - March 1st, 2001.