Putin signs deals with Vietnam in bid to shore up ties in Asia to offset Moscow’s growing isolation

HANOI, Vietnam — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed at least a dozen deals with his Vietnamese counterpart on Thursday and offered to supply fossil fuels, including natural gas, to Vietnam during a state visit that comes as Moscow is seeking to bolster ties in Asia to offset its growing international isolation over its war in Ukraine. Putin said the two countries share an interest in “developing a reliable security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region with no room for “closed military-political blocs.” Lam added that both Russia and Vietnam wanted to “further cooperate in defense and security to cope with non-traditional security challenges.” The agreements between Russia and Vietnam were not as substantial as the pact Putin signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Wednesday, which pledged mutual aid in the event of invasion, said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and a former British ambassador to Belarus. Putin’s recent visits to China and now North Korea and Vietnam are attempts to “break the international isolation,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Putin’s trip resulted in a sharp rebuke from the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, which said that “no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities.” If Putin is allowed to travel freely it “could normalize Russia’s blatant violations of international law,” it said in a statement. Given Putin’s international isolation, Vietnam is doing the Russian leader a “huge favor and may expect favors in return,” Andrew Goledzinowski, the Australian ambassador to Vietnam, wrote on social media platform X.