Russian President Vladimir Putin will go to Hanoi this week, a number of officers stated, highlighting Communist-ruled Vietnam’s loyalty to Russia and triggering a U.S. rebuke.
The go to follows Hanoi avoiding a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland final weekend, whereas sending its deputy international minister to a BRICS assembly in Russia earlier final week.
Putin, who was sworn in for a fifth time simply over a month in the past, is anticipated to fulfill Vietnam’s new president, To Lam, and different leaders through the two-day go to to Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, officers stated.
The United States, which upgraded relations with Hanoi final 12 months and is Vietnam’s high buying and selling associate, reacted harshly.
“No country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalise his atrocities,” a spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Hanoi instructed Reuters when requested concerning the affect of the go to on ties with the United States.
“If he is able to travel freely, it could normalize Russia’s blatant violations of international law,” the spokesperson added, referring to the invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched in February 2022.
Vietnam’s international ministry didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued in March 2023 an arrest warrant for the Russian president over alleged warfare crimes in Ukraine. Vietnam, Russia and the U.S. will not be members of the ICC.
The European Union, one other key financial associate for Vietnam, didn’t remark forward of the go to, but it surely expressed dissatisfaction final month over Hanoi’s resolution to delay a gathering with the EU envoy on Russian sanctions – a delay that officers linked to preparations for Putin’s go to.
From Hanoi’s perspective, the go to is supposed “to demonstrate that Vietnam pursues a balanced foreign policy that does not favour any of the major powers,” stated Ian Storey, senior fellow on the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, after the nation hosted Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in current months.
Source: www.anews.com.tr