Kazan, June 18 -- Prime Minister Le Minh Hung met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan on June 18, as part of his trip for the ASEAN - Russia Commemorative Summit and bilateral activities in Russia.

President Putin thanked the Vietnamese side for its close coordination and active contributions to the success of the ASEAN - Russia Commemorative Summit marking the 35th anniversary of their ties.

He singled out Vietnam as one of Russia's most important partners and a close friend in the region, a key bridge to ASEAN and a driver of Russia's cooperation initiatives there. He highly valued concrete gains in bilateral cooperation, above all steadily deepening political trust, which he called a solid foundation for expanding ties acr...