Russia is looking to build commercial and defence ties with Vietnam, including projects directly linked to the “energy and gas sectors”, as Vladimir Putin looks to Asia after being hit with a raft of international sanctions following his invasion of Ukraine.

Just one day after meeting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and signing a mutual defence agreement, the Russian leader said Moscow and Hanoi were interested in building a reliable security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We will also increase the efficiency of cooperation on projects in the energy and gas sectors,” said Putin, as reported by a local media outlet.

He added that this will be done in order “to create favourable conditions for the work of our companies”.

Putin made the comments in a televised news briefing with Vietnamese President To Lam.

In a separate meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Putin said Russia was ready to set up long-term supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the country, according to reports on a Russian newswire.

Just a day ago, EU nations formulated news sanctions against Russia, including the first measures targeting Russian LNG.

The EU has restricted the re-export of Russian LNG in its waters but hasn’t completely banned imports, unlike the ban on Russian seaborne oil in 2022. Despite this, a few EU countries continue to import gas from Russia through pipelines via Ukraine.

The current talks with Vietnam build on a long-standing relationship between the two nations. Russia has cooperated with Vietnam in the oil and gas sector for a number of years.

Russia’s state-run Zarubezhneft, which specialises in the development of oil and gas fields in Russia and abroad, has been central to the business.

Earlier this week, a Vietnamese Government statement said that Vietsovpetro, a joint venture incorporating Zarubezhneft and Vietnamese state oil company PetroVietnam, is already producing oil from Vietnam's offshore fields.

According to a recent Kremlin statement, Zarubezhneft has also acquired an investment licence for development of offshore hydrocarbon block 11-2 near the coast of Vietnam.

Putin has said previously that Novatek, a Russian LNG producer, will launch “liquefied natural gas projects in Vietnam", without providing any further details.

Russia’s hydrocarbon earnings increased to $337.5bn this year, a 38% increase from 2021, according to an Economy Ministry document seen by Reuters.

"Russia keen to work with Vietnam on energy and security matters, says Putin" was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.

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Putin threatens to send weapons to North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Thursday to send weapons to North Korea if South Korea delivers arms to Ukraine, as international tensions spike following a new treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Speaking to reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam, after visiting North Korea and cementing the treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that includes a mutual defense pact, Putin said South Korea has nothing to worry about so long as it didn’t invade Pyongyang.

“As for the supply of lethal weapons to the combat zone in Ukraine, this would be a very big mistake,” he said. “I hope this doesn’t happen. If this happens, then we, too, will make appropriate decisions that are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea.”

South Korea on Thursday blasted the treaty between Russia and North Korea, which stipulates that the nations will defend each other in the event of an attack. Seoul’s presidential office spokesperson warned that it was reviewing its arms transfer policy for Ukraine, according to media reports.

South Korea has an export policy of only providing nonlethal aid to other nations, but as a major U.S. ally, it has supported Kyiv with pickup trucks and other equipment.

Putin’s meeting with Kim was a major blow to the U.S., as both countries deepened an alliance that was formed last year when North Korea began supplying artillery shells to Russia in return for food and critical technology for its space and missile programs.

The Putin-Kim meeting came not just amid the war in Ukraine but also as tensions are boiling over between North Korea and South Korea, which have been in a frozen conflict since war ended in the 1950s.

A 2018 military agreement that had seen both North Korean and South Korean forces pull back certain equipment from the border has now been abandoned, with Seoul resuming its campaign of blaring messages on loudspeakers across the demilitarized border.

North Korea has sent balloons filled with trash across the border in response to South Korean leaflets being dropped in its country, while Kim continues to launch spy satellites and test missiles, and the U.S. and Seoul ramp up military exercises on the Korean Peninsula.

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