Vietnam giving Russia maritime base space

MOSCOW, July 27 (UPI) -- Vietnam is allowing Russia to set up a ship maintenance base at a Vietnamese port, officials said Friday.

The news came shortly before a meeting Friday between Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Russian President Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti reported.

Speaking with the Voice of Russia radio station ahead of his meeting with Putin, Sang stressed the port of Cam Ranh would not become a Russian military base, but added that the port would be used to help develop "military co-operation" between Russia and Vietnam. Cam Ranh is a deep-water port that last century was used by the Russian Navy, the Japanese Imperial Navy, the South Vietnamese and the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Army.

Russia currently only has one military base outside of the former Soviet Union, in Tartus, Syria.

Russia's naval chief, Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov, on Friday confirmed that Russia is trying to establish bases in Vietnam, Cuba and the Seychelles islands.

"We are indeed continuing work to ensure the stationing of Russian Navy forces outside the Russian Federation," he said in an interview with RIA Novosti. "As part of this work at the international level, we are discussing issues related to the creation of [ship] maintenance stations in Cuba, in the Seychelles and in Vietnam."