“Russian Village” is located on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Nguyen An Ninh Ward, Vung Tau City. Surrounding “Russian Village” are Vietnamese streets, but not everyone knows the “backstory” of this small, affectionate village.
Mr. Hoang Tan Luc, an officer of the Port Services and Equipment Supply Enterprise, part of the Vietnam - Russia Oil and Gas Joint Venture Vietsovpetro, said that in early 1980, the first Soviet experts came to Vung Tau to work at the Vietsovpetro Joint Venture Enterprise (now the Vietnam - Russia Joint Venture Vietsovpetro). At that time, oil and gas exploitation outside the continental shelf was very difficult. To ensure the safe operation of machinery and to draw oil resources from the ocean to the sea surface, it required a team of workers, miners, and transporters with a lot of experience and advanced science and technology. The Russian government sent 2,000 experts, workers, and engineers to help Vietnam exploit oil, and this was also the first basis for the "Russian village" to exist as it is today.
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| Russian girls are charming in traditional Vietnamese ao dai. |
At that time, the 5-storey building had not been built yet, so the Russian experts lived in apartments built by the Vietnamese in the Lam Son Petroleum Service Area. In 1985, the Vung Tau - Con Dao Special Zone and the General Department of Petroleum built the A apartment complex exclusively for Russian experts, consisting of 5 floors with an area of over 10 hectares. On the day more than 2,000 Russians moved from the Lam Son Petroleum Service Area to their new residence, the Russian experts and Vietnamese workers held hands and sang loudly in the courtyard, in apartments that still smelled of new paint. The name "Russian village" also started from there.
Mr. Luc led me through a tree-lined road, with the “Russian village” on one side and the Vietnamese workers’ residence on the other. Mr. Luc said: “Although the Russian village and the Vietnamese workers’ residence are separated by a wide road, there has never been a distance. On weekends, we often go over to play volleyball, chess and exchange cultural activities with Russian friends. There are many couples, a Russian husband and a Vietnamese wife, or a Russian wife and a Vietnamese husband, living here.”
Mr. Antonov Sergey, Deputy Head of the Life Committee of the “Russian Village”, has been attached to the coastal city of Vung Tau for more than 30 years. Over a cup of hot tea, Mr. Antonov Sergey shared many memories of working on the rig in stormy weather, about the solidarity and friendship between Vietnamese and Russian workers, and about the neighborly love of the residents living in the “Russian Village”. “Currently, the Russian Village has 11 buildings, 520 apartments with more than 1,000 Russians living, working and studying here. We live here very comfortably, with a security system to ensure safety. The Russians thank the Vietnamese for giving us a place to live and work. There is no distance between the Russians and the Vietnamese,” Mr. Antonov Sergey confided.
Many Russian-Vietnamese love stories have blossomed and come to fruition. Their homes are built from the pure, simple love of youth and the culture of two nations with a long-standing traditional friendship. Ms. Nguyen Oksana and engineer Nguyen Xuan Tho are a typical couple from those fairy-tale love stories of Vietnam-Russia love.
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| The family of "Vietnamese husband, Russian wife" was built from a deep Vietnamese-Russian love. |
In 1993, Nguyen Xuan Tho went to Russia to study as an international student at the University of Maritime Engineering. During a time when Vietnamese students were interacting with Russian female students at the university, Oksana fell in love with the Vietnamese student with deep eyes and a charming smile. Tho's "alcohol" made Oksana's heart flutter. Then, after months of walking together among the green poplar forests and along the romantic Volga River, in the fall of 1995, they got married. After their honeymoon, Tho brought Oksana back to Vietnam to live and continue her career. Oksana shared: “I cannot express how happy I am to live under the same roof with Tho. I just know that I am very proud to be his wife. Vietnam is my second home. Vietnam gives me a stable job and a happy family. I have three children, a boy and two girls. The first two are studying in Canada, and the youngest daughter is studying at a school in Nga village.”
Engineer Nguyen Xuan Tho and his wife's home is a 5-storey house. Every day, Oksana works on the baking line, manages epidemics, and provides products to customers working at the Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture; Tho works at the Vietsovpetro Labor Safety Department. I asked why she used the word "Nguyen" before the name "Oksana"? "Because I want to give half of my heart to the Vietnamese people. I am Nguyen Xuan Tho's wife, so the Nguyen family name is also my flesh and blood" - Oksana replied.
The “Russian Village” is separated from the Vietnamese housing area by an internal road lined with year-round green trees. Although it is divided into two areas: the “Russian Village” and the housing area for Vietnamese oil and gas workers and engineers, there has never been any separation.
Every day, Russians and Vietnamese workers still walk on that road. In the afternoons, Russian and Vietnamese youth still play volleyball together to exercise. At night, the lights in the Russian village are still on to teach Vietnamese children who love Russian. At the office at 105 Le Loi (Vung Tau City), Russians meet Vietnamese people with respectful bows, Vietnamese people greet Russians with warm and friendly handshakes. Outside the drilling rig far away in the sea, Vietnamese and Russians unite in labor to extract black oil from the bottom of the ocean.
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| Vietnamese class in Russian village |
Over the past 44 years, Russians have integrated into the community in Vung Tau, as a testament to the solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Russia. Ms. Dokuchaeva Alla has lived in the "Russian village" for more than 10 years. For Ms. Dokuchaeva Alla, the "Russian village" has all the same living conditions as in the country of Russia where she was born. She always considers Vung Tau her second home. Ms. Dokuchaeva Alla said: "I love the Russian village, the climate of Vung Tau and the job I am doing at the Russian village commercial center. The Vietnamese people are always responsible, intelligent colleagues; sincere, kind friends. I think, if given the choice again, my husband and I would still choose Vietnam to settle down, start a business and live."
For nearly half a century, Russians have integrated into the lives of the people of the coastal city of Vung Tau. In the hearts of Vietnamese and Russian officials and employees here, there has never been any discrimination or calculation of gains and losses, only humanity and friendship filled…
Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202506/co-mot-nuoc-nga-giua-long-pho-bien-31c1017/
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