Russia has published a book recounting its 60-year history with Vietnam starting with the cold-war era, when the former Soviet Union was a great ally of the young Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Radio Voice of Russia has reported that the two authors of the book, “The Soviet Union-Vietnam--60 years standing side by side” are both Vietnam experts, who have devoted their time and energy to the country in the fields of diplomacy and economy.

One of the authors, Anatoly Voronin from the Russian Committee for Scientific Supervision under the Federal Council President, said on the Radio that “our diplomatic recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was the start of the close ties between the governments and people of the two countries and cooperation between the two countries has strongly developed on the basis of equality and mutual interest, which has reached the level of strategic partnership”.

The book records achievements made in cooperation between the two countries in economics, diplomacy, science, culture, education and sports throughout the six decades.

The book is illustrated with numerous examples, such as the Soviet Union’s massive shipments of antibiotics for Vietnam’s liberated areas to fight malaria shortly after the two countries established diplomatic ties.

“Katyusha” artillery--famous in the Russian Great Patriotic War against Nazi fascism—made a considerable contribution to Vietnam’s Dien Bien Phu victory against French colonialists.

Just two weeks after Hanoi was liberated, the Soviet Union opened its embassy. The pre-American war period was marked by Moscow’s assistance in building almost 80 factories, which were equipped with advanced technology at that time and are still operating well now such as the Thac Ba hydro-power plant.

The book also highlights Soviet assistance during the war against US aggressors, contributing an important part to Vietnam’s final triumph.

The post-war era from 1975 to the early 1990s witnessed the further Soviet assistance to economic development in Vietnam. The Vietnam-Soviet oil and gas joint venture (Vietsovpetro), for example, has made Vietnam a leader in this industry in Southeast Asia. Over 30,000 Vietnamese students have graduated from the Soviet Union universities; of them over 3,500 have defended doctorates there. Many Soviet alumni have held high positions back to Vietnam.

In the new stage of development, Vietnam and Russia have overcome numerous difficulties to continue relations and Russia was the first country with which Vietnam established a strategic partnership.

The two countries have set a target of 10 billion USD in two-way trade revenue./.