It's important to understand that Russian foreign policies don't focus exclusively on the west. This week, Vladimir Putin met with the prime minister of Vietnam, that's Southeast Asia, and held talks with the president of the Congo Republic, which is located in Africa. Today, Africa is an object of increased political attention and there are good reasons for it.
And Africa is interested in Russia. Here's what was happening in the Kremlin during the president of the Congo's visit. When Putin was saying goodbye to the president of the Congo, a commotion started a couple of meters away from them. A guest from the Congo was gesturing: "Take a photo!"
"May I take a photo with you?"
Then (this doesn't happen often) all of the guests in the Kremlin lined up to take a separate photo with Putin. Every next handshake was firmer, every next shiny smile was wider. Even the president of Congo's personal cameraman couldn't help it. He put down his camera and stopped filming in order to take a photo with Putin.
In global politics, every such moment is converted into an achievement. Africa is a continent that has giant potential. This October, the first Russian-African summit will be held in Sochi.
In the Kremlin, he wanted to be seen as if not happy, then at least extremely excited. The Vietnamese prime minister's delegation was gesturing to the Russian ministers of how happy it was to work together.
Vladimir Putin: "Commodity trade is increasing. We're expanding our cooperation in the fields of economy and politics. We coordinate our efforts on the world arena".
Russia is clearly a very close country to Vietnam. The Vietnamese prime minister said that he's determined to get the relationship with Moscow to an even more productive level.
