Russian Senior Lieutenant General, Professor and Doctor of military science Khiupenhen Anatoli Ivanovich has said he feels deeply sad at the news on the passing away of his friend, General Vo Nguyen Giap.

The Russian General described the deceased, with his great role, as a pride of the Vietnamese nation, calling him the right-hand man of President Ho Chi Minh in building the army.

The Dien Bien Phu victory can be taken as the Vietnamese version of the Stalingrad victory, he said.

He also recalled a visit to the Vietnam Army Museum during which Russian military experts expressed their admiration to the wisdom of the General who had never had any official military training.-VNA