(Edits throughout)
HANOI, June 17 (Reuters) — Russian President Vladimir
Putin is widely portrayed as a pariah in the West, but he looks
set to receive a warm welcome when he visits Communist-ruled
Vietnam this week.
Vietnam is not a member of the International Criminal Court
(ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Putin over alleged
war crimes in Ukraine, and ties between Hanoi and Moscow have
been strong for decades.
Like Moscow, Hanoi also keeps a close eye on what is
reported by national media, and Western advocacy groups say
media freedoms and freedom of expression are severely limited in
Vietnam.
«I was very happy when I learned that Mr Putin is coming to
Vietnam because he is very talented, truly a world leader,» Tran
Xuan Cuong, a 57-year-old Hanoi resident, said in front of a
statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the Vietnamese
capital.
Another Hanoi resident, Nguyen Thi Hong Van, said gifts in
her Russian souvenir shop sell well.
«Vietnamese people love Russian products very much,» she
told Reuters, surrounded by Matryoshka dolls and caps featuring
the embroidered letters CCCP, the Cyrillic abbreviation for the
Soviet Union (USSR).
Putin will visit Vietnam on Wednesday and Thursday, state
media said.
The Russian leader has travelled little since the ICC
ruling, which Moscow says it does not recognise. Russia also
denies committing war crimes in Ukraine since the full-scale
invasion Putin launched in February 2022.
TRADITIONAL TIES
Russia is the top supplier of weapons to Vietnam, and
Russian firms extract oil and gas in Vietnamese fields in the
South China Sea that are claimed by China.
Tens of thousands of cadres went to study in the former
Soviet Union during the Cold War, including top business leaders
and the current head of the Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong, a
Marxist-Leninist ideologist.
Hanoi is dotted with Soviet-style buildings, including the
museum of modern Vietnam’s founding father Ho Chi Minh, and an
imposing Vietnam-Soviet friendship palace, built in the late
1970s on the site where a bombed French exhibition hall stood.
In a country that is strictly controlled by its Communist
leadership, and where advocacy group Human Rights Watch says
rights to freedom of expression are strictly limited, Putin is
unlikely to face open criticism.
«The Russian spirit is a wonderful thing. It can be gentle
and has a lot of affection and love for peace,» said Tran Xuan
Viet, 83.»I will always have respect and compassion for Putin.
In fact, there are many things about him that I often (..) apply
in my daily life.»
Some younger Vietnamese also welcomed Putin’s visit.
«I quite like Russian President Putin. I hope this visit
will increase solidarity, cooperation and friendship between
Russia and Vietnam,» said Pham Hoang Hai Dang, a 20-year-old
student.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Francesco Guarascio; Editing
by Michael Perry and Timothy Heritage)