Cooperation News with Vietnam
The head of the Vietnamese defense ministry, Phung Quang Thanh, said that the cooperation continues, and his country will continue to buy Russian weapons and military equipment. At the same time, mutually beneficial relations are not limited to the supply of weapons. One of the issues discussed during the negotiations was the training of Vietnamese soldiers in Russian educational institutions. It is possible that not only officers, but also generals of the Vietnamese armed forces will be trained in Russia. It is assumed that this will significantly increase their skills and skills and, ultimately, will have a beneficial effect on the state of the whole Vietnamese army.
As for the new military equipment, in this area, the creation and development of a full-fledged underwater tank currently has the highest priority for Vietnam fleet. About three years ago, the leadership of the Russian and Vietnamese ministries of defense came to an agreement on cooperation in this area. Russian experts were to build submarine-based bases in Vietnam. This construction, as well as the assembly of new submarines, was supposed to go at the expense of the Russian loan. Shortly before the announcement of plans for the construction of bases, Russia and Vietnam signed a contract for the supply of six diesel-electric submarines of project 636 Varshavyanka. They in the near future should become the basis of the Vietnamese submarine fleet.
The first of the submarines, called the "Hanoi", in December last year came to the test. If there are no serious problems, the customer will accept it by the fall of this year. The last of the ordered "Varshavyanki" will be operational by the 2018-19 years. Until now, Vietnam did not have submarines and now, due to new ships of this class, it will be able to significantly increase the combat potential of its armed forces. In the light of recent trends in the development of the armed forces of the countries of Southeast Asia, new submarines will definitely not be redundant.
Another issue of international cooperation concerning the naval bases is almost solved and will be secured by the treaty in the near future. This year, the ministries of defense of Russia and Vietnam intend to sign an agreement according to which Russian warships will be able to enter the Vietnamese ports and replenish stocks of fuel, provisions, etc. Thus, the Vietnamese ports will assume a number of basic functions of the logistics points. Earlier, for several decades, a similar point operated in the city of Cam Ranh, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it fell into disrepair, and was finally closed at the beginning of the two thousandth. Together with the fleet logistic support point, Russia lost the largest military base from foreign ones. Now the old conditions, apparently, will gradually recover. It is unlikely that a full-fledged Russian military base will appear in Vietnam in the coming years, but our sailors will be able to count on material and technical assistance.
It is noteworthy that even without the establishment of a new military base, Russians will be able to visit Vietnam. Over the past years, his military department regularly arranges tourist trips for Russian veterans of the Vietnam War. As Defense Minister Fung Quang Thanh said, his country expresses gratitude and thanks them for their help, and besides, it clearly shows what the efforts of former military advisers and specialists have led to.
It is not difficult to notice that the bulk of the news about Russian-Vietnamese cooperation concerns the naval forces. Over the past years, countries have been actively working together in this direction and have achieved some success. So, in 2011, the first two patrol ships of the 11661 project entered service of the Vietnamese Navy. According to reports, just a few months after the second one was commissioned, the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense showed a strong desire to acquire two more such ships. Last year, the Navy was replenished with two patrol ships of the TT400TP project, built in Vietnam with the active assistance of Russian specialists. In the near future, perhaps, several more such ships will be built.
In general, all the latest news from Vietnam confirms that cooperation with this country is one of the highest priority areas for Russia. For half a century, Vietnam has been a profitable ally for the Soviet Union and Russia, and will most likely remain in the future.
On the materials of the sites:
http://ria.ru/
http://lenta.ru/
http://rg.ru/
http://armstrade.org/
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