The Russian Journal of Vietnamese Studies

This article analyzes the evolution of Vietnam–Russia security cooperation from 2001 to 2025 within the broader Indo-Pacific geopolitical context. Using a qualitative case study approach that blends realist and constructivist theories, it explores how historical ties and shared strategic interests have shaped a multifaceted partnership. Key areas of cooperation include arms transfers, military training, intelligence sharing, and emerging domains like non-traditional security. While Russian arms imports peaked in the early 2010s, a trend toward diversification emerged after 2017. Despite reduced procurement, Russia remains Vietnam’s main defense partner due to deep technical integration and logistical dependency. The study argues that the relationship has matured into a pragmatic, adaptive framework. As Vietnam pursues “multi-vector” diplomacy and Russia seeks relevance beyond the West, their cooperation reflects a resilient, non-aligned security model grounded in strategic autonomy, mutual respect, and flexibility.

This article analyzes the development of journalism and media management in Vietnam in the post-Soviet context, specifically from 1991 to the present. Characteristics of journalism and media management in Vietnam are discussed along three major phases: the pre-Doi Moi [Renovation] period when journalism was primarily considered a weapon for class struggle and was heavily influenced by the Soviet model; the transitional period post-Doi Moi during which journalism became a public forum in response to citizens' information needs, and the digital transformation era marked by the proliferation of social media. The article then delves into notable opportunities, challenges, as well as prominent achievements in Vietnam’s current journalism and media management landscape.

This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the past decade of Vietnam–EAEU cooperation under the FTA framework, highlighting key achievements, identifying existing limitations, and examining strategic prospects. Employing qualitative and quantitative methods with data derived from official sources, the study finds that while the FTA has fostered positive changes in trade flows, the results remain disproportionate to the substantial cooperation potential between the parties. Nonetheless, strong political commitment, improvements in logistics and payment systems, and plans to expand investment into emerging sectors suggest promising future cooperation.

This article examines the evolution and significance of public diplomacy-more specifically, people-to-people diplomacy- in the development of Vietnam’s relations with the Soviet Union and, subsequently, the Russian Federation over the past 75 years. Rather than analyzing institutional mechanisms or policy strategies, the study focuses on the human dimension of diplomacy, as expressed through personal and collective memory. Drawing upon memoirs, commemorative publications, and oral histories, the article explores how shared historical experiences, cultural exchanges, and interpersonal connections have served as enduring foundations for bilateral relations.

In the context of global geopolitics with complex structural shifts, strengthening multilateral cooperation and effectively promoting soft power has become a strategic direction for many countries. The paper is based on the original definition of soft power and the foundation of relations between Vietnam and the Russian Federation to analyze the possibility of promoting the soft power of the two countries through cultural, educational, tourism and language dissemination cooperation in the current geopolitical context. Updating secondary documents in Russian, Vietnamese, English, especially documents from 2022-2025, based on the practice of cooperation between the two countries, with a systematic and interdisciplinary approach, the article synthesizes and focuses on explaining the obstacles to cooperation in each field (culture, education, tourism), identifies the causes of those obstacles, and points out that language barriers are the key to cooperation fields along with many other obstacles. The article proposes a number of new groups of solutions to promote the soft power of the two countries through culture, education, tourism and language dissemination. The bases for proposing solutions are based on the results of an overview of research, on Vietnam’s latest development viewpoint and leadership guidelines. The article concludes that in the context of fierce international competition, Vietnam and Russia need to quickly innovate their thinking, elevate cooperation in the direction of interdisciplinary - creative - digital - linked to development strategy, the two countries can firmly consolidate their comprehensive strategic partnership.

This article examines Le Van Kiet’s 2014 film Dịu dàng (Gentle) as an instance of inter-semiotic and cross-cultural adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella A Gentle Creature. Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of inter-semiotic translation and cross-cultural criticism, the article argues that the film reinterprets Dostoevsky’s characteristic existentialism and profound psychological conflict by transposing them into the context of post-colonial, post-Doi Moi (Renovation) Vietnam, employing a naturalistic aesthetic and deliberate cultural localization strategies. In an era of global cultural convergence, the film emerges as an intertextual practice, where Vietnamese cinema engages in a profound dialogue with the global literary canon by redefining its socio-cultural coordinates. This process, in turn, forges new pathways for reimagining Vietnamese identity and its people in the contemporary era.

This article provides a detailed overview of art exhibitions that opened in Moscow in the summer of 2025: "Teacher - Student: Melodies of the Path" at the Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts and "A Look Through the Radiance. Lacquer Painting of Vietnam" at the State Museum of Oriental Art. The author discusses both the official exhibition support and the historical and artistic features of the works on display, tracing the powerful influence of Soviet art on the formation of the Vietnamese school of painting. In particular, the embodiment of socialist realism in the DRV in the second half of the 20th century is explored.

The full text of the joint statement on the establishment of a strategic partnership between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of Azerbaijan, signed in Baku on May 7, 2025, is given.

The full text of the Joint Statement on the upgrade of Vietnam–Egypt ties to Comprehensive Partnership adopted on August 5, 2025 in Cairo, is given.

The Rule of Law State and Religion in Vietnam, a trilogy by Professor Dr. Đỗ Quang Hưng, explores the evolution of religious governance in Vietnam from the post-revolutionary era to the present. Framed by the concept of the "socialist rule-of-law state," the work analyzes the theoretical, historical, and institutional dynamics that have shaped state–religion relations. Structured in three volumes—Religion and Society, Religion and Law, and Religion and the State—the trilogy combines intellectual history, legal-historical inquiry, and normative analysis to comprehensively account for Vietnam's distinctive approach to religious governance. Drawing on interdisciplinary methods from legal history and comparative secularism, it proposes a uniquely Vietnamese secular governance model characterized by legal neutrality, institutional cooperation, and cultural pluralism. Thus, the trilogy is a scholarly resource and a policy reference for studying religion and governance in contemporary Vietnam.