President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith, a graduate of the Russian Herzen State Pedagogical University, visited a festive Moscow, where he attended the Victory Day parade and held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On 9 May, at the Victory Parade in Moscow, among the foreign heads of state accompanied by Vladimir Putin, there was a modest and friendly man wearing glasses. The man smiled, spoke in Russian, followed the events with sincere interest and respect, and proudly wore a St George’s Ribbon on the lapel of his coat. This was the President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, Thongloun Sisoulith.
The development of relations with the countries of South-East Asia is still not given enough attention in our information space. That is why it is worth making a brief excursion into the history of Russian-Laotian friendship.
Laos has an ancient and original culture. In the course of its history, this culture has had to depend on Chinese, Vietnamese, Khmer and Thai (Siamese) rulers, then on the French colonial empire, and during the Second World War – on the Japanese occupation. Laos only achieved modern statehood in 1953 after a long national liberation struggle against French rule. The newly independent state then experienced civil war and attempts by the United States to interfere in its internal affairs. The Vietnam War also affected its territory. As a result, it was not until December 1975 that the Lao PDR was proclaimed. The country embarked on a course of building socialism.
Some history of our relationship
The Soviet Union recognised an independent Laos as early as 1960. Since then, the two countries have shown solidarity throughout the history of their relationship. Laos remembers the support of the USSR in the struggle against colonialism, for the right to independence and its own modern statehood, and later the crucial and constant technical, military and personnel assistance from the Soviet........