Hanoi (VNA) – Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van
Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and
Deputy Defence Minister, and a high-ranking delegation from the VPA left
Vietnam on August 13 to start an official visit to Russia and attend the
closing ceremony of the Army Games 2019 there.

Vietnam was praised by Russian military experts for
excellent performance at the Army Games 2019 (Photo: VNA)
The visit, made at the invitation of General Valery
Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia and
First Deputy Defence Minister, aims to maintain delegation exchanges between
the two ministries and to strengthen bilateral friendship.
Over the years, the defence partnership between
Vietnam and Russia has been deepened as an important pillar in bilateral
relations.
Vietnam sent 127 officers and soldiers to compete in
this year’s Army Games in the categories of tank biathlon, safe route, safe
environment, sniper frontier, military medical relay race, field kitchen,
and emergency area.
Vietnamese officers and soldiers were praised by
Russian military experts for their performance.
Colonel Vladislav Veryasov from the Russian Armed
Forces’ Engineer Arm, also a main referee, praised the Vietnamese team's
skills, saying Vietnamese military personnel showed unyielding fighting
spirit.
Speaking with the broadcaster STV of Belarus, Deputy
Commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus,
Colonel Vladimir Bely, also a main referee, said though participating in the
Army Games for the first time, the Vietnamese sniper team achieved high
results.
Vietnam’s attendance at the games also aims to mark
the Vietnam-Russia and Russia-Vietnam Year (2019-2020).-VNA.