Putin's four-day trip to North Korea and Vietnam angered the US
Russian President Vladimir Putin angered the United States with his visits to North Korea and Vietnam. The New York Times (NYT) wrote about this on June 22.
“Four days in Asia. That’s all Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to anger Washington,” the article says.
In particular, the American side was annoyed that Putin “has signed at least a dozen agreements with Vietnam, a country that is becoming increasingly important for both China and the United States.”
The author noted that the meeting of the Russian leader with the head of the DPRK Kim Jong-un was a serious reminder of the historical military ties of the parties.
“Putin’s presence and his statements, bold one minute and vague the next, have further complicated already difficult calculations about security and great power competition,” the article added.
Earlier, on June 22, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that Russian President Putin’s visits to Vietnam and North Korea demonstrated the failure of US sanctions policy.
Afterwards, the Russian leader flew to Vietnam from the DPRK on the evening of June 19. The next day he arrived at the presidential palace in Hanoi, where the Russian and Vietnamese delegations held negotiations.
Kremlin official Dmitry Peskov at a briefing on June 21 drew attention to the fact that Western countries always react with hostility to any foreign political activity of the Russian side. According to him, the reaction of these states to the visits of the Russian President to the DPRK and Vietnam was predictable. At the same time, he did not rule out that the United States will put pressure on all Russia’s partners. But cooperation between the Russian Federation and states is devoid of any confrontation towards third countries, he added.
