Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage arrived in Hanoi at 2:00 am on Thursday, starting his state visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam . 

Among the top Vietnamese officials present at Noi Bai International Airport to welcome the high-ranking Russian delegation were Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chief of its External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, who is also head of the Vietnamese sub-committee of the Vietnam-Russia intergovernmental committee on economic-trade and science-technology cooperation, Chairman of the Presidential Office Le Khanh Hai, Hanoi chairman Tran Sy Thanh, and Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi. 

Russian President Putin’s entourage includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Russian sub-committee of the Vietnam-Russia intergovernmental committee on economic-trade and science-technology cooperation Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, and Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Gennady Bezdetko.

The Russian leader is also accompanied by Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, and representatives from Russian authorities, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and numerous firms.

President Russia is scheduled to attend a welcome ceremony and a series of activities in Hanoi on Thursday.

The visit takes place when Vietnam and Russia mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Principles of Friendly Relations between the two nations (June 16). 

This is the Russian president’s second state visit to Vietnam, but it is the fifth time he has traveled to Vietnam.

His previous visits were made in 2001, 2006, 2013, and 2017 when he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in the central city of Da Nang. 

His first state visit to Vietnam took place in November 2013, nearly one year after he was elected president of Russia.

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