Russia has published a book covering the 60 years of comprehensive relations between Vietnam and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The book was written by two well-known Russian experts in Vietnamese studies - Anatoly Voronin and Evgeny Kobelev - who have been enthusiastically devoted to the two countries’ ties of cooperation in diplomacy and economics over the past six decades.

The book highlighted the concrete assistance the Soviet Union gave Vietnam during its resistance wars against the French and US occupations and later in the process of national construction.

After the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, the Soviet Union sent the Democratic Republic of Vietnam large quantities of antibiotics for fighting malaria. The famous Katyusha rocket launchers used by the Soviet Union in the Second World War contributed considerably to the Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu.

The Soviet embassy in Hanoi opened just two weeks after Hanoi was liberated from French colonialist rule.

In the following years, the Soviet Union helped Vietnam build a series of nearly 80 power, machine, and fertilizer plants, which are still in operation today.

After 1975, the Soviet Union continued to help Vietnam economically, giving birth to the oil and petrol joint venture Vietsovpetro, which has made Vietnam one of Southeast Asia’s leading countries in oil extraction.

Soviet universities helped train over 30,000 Vietnamese cadres, including 3,500 PhDs. Many former Vietnamese students in the Soviet Union have held or now hold important positions in Vietnam.

Vietnam and Russia are poised to boost their bilateral trade revenues to US$10 billion this year.