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U.S. sanctions against Russia that affect Vietnam the most are directed against
Russian defense entities such as Rosoboronexport, the official state exporter of arms
and military equipment. If Vietnam enters into commercial contracts with
Rosoboronexport or other Russian defense entities on the sanctions list, it could too
be sanctioned. This may be one reason why the details of on-going and new defense
contracts between Vietnam and Russia have been kept low key and vague.
Q3. It was reported that Vietnam recently ordered U.S. $100 million in arms from the
United States. What did Vietnam order? If Vietnam continues to purchase arms from
Russia will the U.S. re-impose an arms embargo on Vietnam?
ANSWER: Vietnam has not made any major purchases of weapons or military
equipment from the United States since President Obama lifted the arms embargo in
May 2016. In August this year, the U.S. State Department reported that Vietnam had
signed contracts to buy U.S. military equipment worth $94.7 million via Foreign
Military Financing and Direct Commercial Sales. This is a small amount of money.
Vietnam is reportedly interested in purchasing another Hamilton-class ex-Coast
Guard cutter and Boeing-Insitu ScanEagle drones.
The Trump Administration is unlikely to prevent Vietnam from purchasing U.S.
weapons and military equipment for two reasons: first it views arms sales as one
method of reducing America’s trade deficit with Vietnam, and second because the
U.S. defense officials have been lobbying Vietnam to buy U.S. weapons to reduce
their dependency on Russia.
At the present time there are no indications that Vietnam plans to make any major
or “big ticket” purchases from the United States. There are reports that Vietnam
reacted negatively to U.S. pressures not to buy arms from Russia.
Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Will U.S. Sanctions Affect Russian Arms Sales
to Vietnam?” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, September 12, 2018. All
background briefs are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.