BEIJING, October 17. /TASS/. Moscow and Hanoi have friendly relations and continue to develop them in this spirit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Vo Van Thuong.

"Dear friends, I am very happy to see you! I would like to begin by asking to convey my best regards to general secretary [of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong]. The relations between our countries are traditionally developing in a friendly fashion," the Russian leader noted.

He reiterated that next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of a treaty on the fundamentals of friendly relations between Vietnam and Russia. "However, the ties between Russia and Vietnam certainly have much deeper roots. And there is no need to describe how close our peoples have been and how it has been shaping over previous decades," Putin noted.