Russia unfazed by U.S. lifting embargo on arms sales to Vietnam: official

The lifting of a decades-old U.S. arms embargo on Vietnam will not affect Russia's weapons sale to the Southeast Asian country, a senior Russian military official said on Monday.

"Our relations with Vietnam are of a strategic nature, and their further development will depend on the Vietnamese leadership," said Anatoly Punchuk, deputy head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, the country's body supervising military exports.

The lifting of the embargo will not affect the export of Russian weapons, Punchuk said.

During his ongoing three-day visit to Vietnam, U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Monday Washington's decision to completely remove its ban on sales of lethal weapons to Hanoi, one of the last major vestiges of the Vietnam War era.

Vietnam is one of the largest buyers of Russian weapons, and imports a broad range of Russian armaments ranging from submarines and frigates to multi-functional warplanes. Endi