Putin arrives in Vietnam on a state visit condemned by the United States Vietnam

Vladimir Putin arrived in Vietnam to hold talks with its communist leaders on the last leg of his Asian tour after signing a defense agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Russian President’s plane landed at Hanoi Airport, where he was received on the red carpet by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hung Ha and the party’s chief diplomat, Le Hoai Trong.

Vietnam is preparing for a full official reception of Putin, his first visit since 2017, but the trip has angered its largest trading partner, the United States.

Putin was scheduled to meet with Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, state President Tu Lam, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The Russian leader is also scheduled to attend a wreath-laying ceremony, including at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum that houses the embalmed body of Vietnam’s founding leader.

Russian officials say that Putin’s visit will focus on economic, education and energy issues. Trade between the two countries reached just $3.5 billion in 2022, a small fraction of Vietnam’s $175 billion trade with China and $123 billion with the United States. But observers say Ukraine and defense cooperation are likely to be on the table in secret.

Russia and Vietnam have deep ties dating back to the 1950s, and for decades, Moscow was the main arms supplier to Hanoi.

In an opinion piece on the occasion of his visit, Putin praised Vietnam for supporting “a practical way to resolve the crisis” in Ukraine. Vietnam officially pursues a neutral foreign policy and has refrained from condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine, a position that some Western countries consider too lenient with the Kremlin.

In addition to praising Vietnam for its position on the Ukrainian war, Putin mentioned progress in payments, energy and trade between the two countries in the article published in the Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan.

Although North Korea and Russia face international isolation, Vietnam has succeeded in building delicate alliances with the United States and the European Union. The United States, which raised diplomatic relations with Hanoi last year and is Vietnam’s largest export market, opposed Putin’s visit. “No country should give Putin a platform to promote his aggressive war and allow him to normalize his atrocities,” a US Embassy spokesman in Hanoi said this week.

The Russian President’s presence in Vietnam comes on the heels of a high-level visit to Pyongyang, during which he and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un signed a joint defense agreement.

The agreement includes a clause asking the countries to help each other if either is attacked, raising concerns in the West about possible Russian assistance to North Korea’s missile or nuclear programs.

US President Joe Biden visited Hanoi in September to boost ties as his administration seeks to build Vietnam as an alternative supplier of key high-tech components to reduce US dependence on China.

Beijing quickly followed suit, with President Xi Jinping making a state visit just three months later.

Reuters, AFP and The Associated Press contributed to this report