Russia welcomes General Secretary To Lam with honor guard parade at the airport

General Secretary To Lam and his wife at Vnukovo 2 airport in Russia - Photo: VNA

On the afternoon of May 8 (local time), after successfully concluding his state visit to Azerbaijan, General Secretary To Lam and his wife led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to leave the capital Baku. After more than 3 hours of flight, the plane carrying the Vietnamese leader and his wife arrived in Moscow in the afternoon of the same day, local time.

VNA described Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko as warmly welcoming the General Secretary and his wife at Vnukovo 2 airport. Also welcoming were a number of Russian Foreign Ministry officials, Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Prof. Bezdetko and his wife, Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi and a large number of embassy staff and the Vietnamese community in Russia.

The official welcoming ceremony for General Secretary To Lam and his wife and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation was solemnly held immediately afterwards at the airport.

Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshenko accompanied the General Secretary along the red carpet to the place of honor. The head of the honor guard welcomed and reported to General Secretary To Lam. The military band then played the Vietnamese and Russian national anthems.

The national anthem ended, the honor guard marched past the place where the Vietnamese leader and his wife were standing to the sound of majestic music.

Immediately after the official welcoming ceremony at the airport, the General Secretary left for the Prime Minister's Office and met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Honor guard parades to welcome General Secretary To Lam and his wife - Photo: VNA

According to VNA, on the evening of May 8, Vietnam time, he is also expected to attend a solemn reception for leaders of countries attending the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin .

This is General Secretary To Lam's first official visit to Russia as head of the Party. The visit is even more meaningful as one of his activities is to attend the Victory Day parade.

Responding to the Russian press before the visit, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son affirmed that through this visit, Vietnam wishes to express its respect and honor for the enormous contributions and sacrifices of the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation today in the great victory against fascism and firmly protecting world peace.

On this occasion, Vietnam also wishes to further strengthen political trust between the two countries, identify orientations to bring the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia to new heights, and strengthen cooperation between the Communist Party of Vietnam and major political parties in Russia.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, within the framework of the visit, General Secretary To Lam and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will have important meetings with high-ranking Russian leaders.

This will create new impetus for bilateral cooperation in many fields, including traditional cooperation fields and new, potential fields such as economics, trade, investment, basic science, energy, high technology, artificial intelligence, etc.

At the same time, it creates important driving forces to realize the development goals of the Vietnam - Russia bilateral relationship, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region as well as in the world.