Vladimir Putin has arrived in Vietnam for talks with its communist leaders on the final stop of his two-nation tour of Asia after signing a defence pact with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The Russian president’s plane touched down at Hanoi airport where he was met on a red carpet by Vietnamese deputy prime minister Tran Hong Ha and top party diplomat Le Hoai Trung. Vietnam has been gearing up for a full state welcome for Putin, his first visit since 2017, but the trip has drawn the ire of its top trade partner, the US. Putin was scheduled to meet the Communist party leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, the state president, To Lam, and the prime minster, Pham Minh Chinh. The Russian leader was also due to attend wreath laying ceremonies, including at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum housing the embalmed corpse of Vietnam’s founding leader. Russian officials say Putin’s visit will focus on economic, education and energy issues. Trade between the two countries stood at just $3.5bn in 2022 – a tiny fraction of Vietnam’s $175bn trade with China and $123bn with the United States. But observers say that in private, Ukraine and defence cooperation are likely to be on the table. Russia and Vietnam have deep ties dating back to the 1950s, and for decades, Moscow was Hanoi’s leading arms supplier. In an opinion piece timed for his visit, Putin applauded Vietnam for supporting “a pragmatic way to solve the crisis” in Ukraine. Vietnam officially pursues a neutral foreign policy and has abstained from condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a stance that some western countries view as too easy on the Kremlin. As well as praising Vietnam for its position on the Ukraine war, Putin listed progress on payments, energy and trade between the countries in the article published in Vietnam’s Communist party newspaper Nhan Dan. Although both North Korea and Russia face international isolation, Vietnam has built careful alliances with the US and EU. The US, which upgraded diplomatic relations with Hanoi last year and is Vietnam’s top export market, opposed Putin’s visit. “No country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalise his atrocities,” a spokesperson for the US embassy in Hanoi said this week. The Russian president’s presence in Vietnam follows on from a high-profile visit to Pyongyang, in which he and the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, signed a mutual defence pact. The agreement includes a clause requiring the countries to come to each other’s aid if either is attacked, raising western concerns about potential Russian aid for North Korea’s missile or nuclear programmes. US President Joe Biden visited Hanoi in September to promote ties as his administration seeks to build up Vietnam as an alternative supplier of key hi-tech components to reduce American dependence on China. Beijing swiftly followed suit, with President Xi Jinping making his own state visit barely three months later.