Medvedev visits Vietnam to return Cam Ranh base

27.10.2010 Dmitry Medvedev will take part in second Russia-ASEAN Summit to be held in Hanoi in Oct 30-31 and pay an official visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The visit will be conducted by invitation of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, reports Kremlin's press-service.

It should be noted that Medvedev's visit to Vietnam may be connected with Russian Navy Command's intentions to revive military base Cam Ranh closed 9 years ago.

According to Specletter.com, Russian political and military officials repeatedly voiced this idea in the recent years.

In 1979 the USSR and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam agreed to use Cam Ranh port as Soviet naval base for 25 years – mainly, for Pacific Fleet (PF) 17th Squadron. Later on, the base was renamed into PF 922nd Maintenance Center. The Soviet Union was not supposed to pay for lease.

In 1998 Vietnamese authorities charged lease payment of $300 mln per year. China and the U.S. suggested price of $500 mln then. In 2001 Vladimir Putin at the beginning of his presidency declared closing of the base under color of high maintenance cost, reports Km.ru.

Early in 2002 Putin said in the interview to Wall Street Journal that Russia's refusal of Cam Ranh base is "absolutely correct and weighted politico-military decision".

Sources in Russian defense ministry reported in June 2010 that Moscow again tries to open bases in Cam Ranh and in the Mediterranean Sea. Allegedly, all Cam Ranh related documents have been already prepared; they "proved and calculated the necessity to revive the basing site with the view to provide presence of Russian warships in the Asian-Pacific region".

The sources underlined that "once the political decision is made, the Navy is ready to reanimate the base within three years".

However, Vietnam has declared that Cam Ranh would no longer be a foreign naval base. To Russia, the leaving turned out to be much easier than the returning.

We recall that withdrawal from Cam Ranh aroused scathing criticism of most Russian military experts, since the Vietnamese naval base had been very practical and strategically important object providing Russia's military interests in Asian-Pacific region.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is political, economical, and cultural regional intergovernmental organization of Southeast Asian countries. It was established on Aug 9, 1967 in Bangkok along with subscription of ASEAN Declaration, known as Bangkok Declaration.