Russia in talks on Cuba, Vietnam naval bases

Russia is holding talks about opening naval bases in Moscow's Soviet-era allies Cuba and Vietnam as well as the Seychelles, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy said Friday. "It is true, we are working on the deployment of Russian naval bases outside Russian territory," Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov told the RIA Novosti news agency. "Within this work we are discussing the possibility of creating material and technical supply centres on the territory of Cuba, Seychelles and Vietnam," Chirkov said ahead of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang later Friday. The Soviet Navy had foreign bases in Cam Ranh, in the south of Vietnam, and Tartus in Syria. Putin decided in 2001 to shut the Vietnamese base, which Moscow had rented since Soviet times as a result of a 1979 agreement between Vietnam and the Soviet Union. Russia left the base in 2002.