VIETNAM DELAYS MEETING WITH EU SANCTIONS CHIEF AHEAD OF POSSIBLE PUTIN VISIT, SOURCES SAY
By Francesco Guarascio
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's foreign affairs ministry told the European Union it was not available for a meeting next week with the bloc's top official on Russian sanctions, diplomats said, as Hanoi prepares for a possible visit from Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Vietnam has been striving to pursue a neutral foreign policy in its relations with major world powers. It has abstained from condemning Russia's attack on Ukraine, a position that Western countries see as too close to the Kremlin.
Special envoy for the implementation of EU sanctions, David O'Sullivan, is travelling to Southeast Asia next week and had planned to meet Vietnamese officials on May 13-14, but Hanoi asked to delay the meeting "as leaders were too busy to meet with him," one diplomat with direct knowledge of the situation said.
Another three diplomats confirmed the postponement of the visit, with one saying Vietnam had suggested July as an alternative date.
EU representatives in Vietnam had no immediate comment.
Two of the diplomats and another person familiar with the discussions linked the delay to the organisation of a possible visit from Putin to Vietnam, which could be "spoiled" by the EU envoy's earlier visit, according to one of the sources.
Vietnam's foreign ministry and Russia's embassy in Hanoi did not reply to requests for comment.
Vietnamese leaders have repeatedly invited Putin to Vietnam in recent months, after the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) - of which Vietnam is not a member - issued in March 2023 an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Last week, Russia's ambassador to Vietnam, Bezdetko Gennady Stepanovich, was reported saying that Putin had accepted the invitation and a date for the visit was to be decided after the inauguration for his fifth term as president on May 7, according to Vietnamese state media.
Putin last travelled to Vietnam in 2017.
Russia is the top supplier of weapons to Vietnam and also plays a crucial role in the exploitation of Vietnam's gas reserves in the South China Sea in waters that China claims as its own.
The EU has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
O'Sullivan's job involves making sure that countries do not help Russia or other sanctioned states to circumvent EU punitive measures, for instance by supplying Moscow with dual-use goods that could be used for its war efforts in Ukraine.
There is no evidence that Vietnam has offered any help to Russia for what the Kremlin calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Some diplomats have said it would be hard to detect any trade between Vietnam and Russia that may breach sanctions, especially if it involved chips or other small components.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; additional reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
2024-05-09T07:52:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd
