Relations between Russia and Vietnam have a nearly sixty-year history. Having emerged at the initial stage of the Cold War [Ognetov, 2004, p. 69-83; Konoreva, 2008, p. 84-89], they went through several stages in their development. At the first stage (January 1950 - July 1954), the USSR recognized the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) formed in 1945, but ignored the State of Vietnam created in 1949 by the French. Soviet representatives repeatedly opposed the UN membership of the State of Vietnam, as well as neighboring Cambodia and Laos [for more details, see Selivanov, 2006, pp. 92-100].

Based on materials from the collections of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (WUA of the Russian Federation) and the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), we tried to reconstruct the main events related to the opening of the first embassy of the DRV in Moscow.

In the Russian literature, one can find the statement that " Moscow until 1954 practically did not have... There are no connections with Hanoi, Hue (the imperial capital of Vietnam), or Saigon - an important economic center in the south of the Indochina Peninsula - the capital of Cochin China" (Ilinsky, 2005, p.17).

Indeed, in January 1950, the USSR declared the very fact of recognizing the DRV, without taking into account the negative reaction of France in this matter. In addition, the official capital of the DRV, Hanoi, was under the control of French troops, and due to this circumstance, it was not possible to open a Soviet diplomatic mission there. At that time, it was possible to talk about the recognition of the "government in exile", especially since since October 1949, some of the state institutions of the DRV, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were located on the territory of the PRC, in Shanghai.

The status of the future representative office was not immediately determined. This issue was discussed on January 30, 1950 (simultaneously with the question of official recognition of the DRV by the USSR) at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). It was decided to exchange missions [RGASPI, op. 3, d. 1079, l. 87]. The next day, a report about this appeared in the central Soviet newspapers [Pravda, 1950; Izvestia, 1950]. Apparently, the USSR was guided by the precedent of Thailand , the only country on the Indochina Peninsula with which diplomatic relations were established at that time. The mission of Thailand was accredited in Moscow, and the mission of the USSR in Bangkok.

The leadership of the DRV had a different point of view on this issue: as early as January 23, a corresponding note was sent to the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which expressed the desire to exchange not envoys, but ambassadors [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N PO, p. 3, l. 2]. This was probably due to the fact that during the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DRW and the PRC, both sides agreed to exchange ambassadors, and not to exchange them.

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envoys [WUA RF, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 2]. The official representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in China, Fung, during conversations with the USSR Ambassador in Beijing, N. V. Roshchin, also confirmed his country's desire to exchange ambassadors with the USSR. At the same time, Fung conveyed the request of his Government to agree to the appointment of Nguyen Luong Bang as the head of the representative office [Bukharkin, 1998, p.128].

By that time, J. V. Stalin had actually handed over "supervision" of national liberation movements in Indochina to the communist leaders of China, and instructed the interests of the USSR in the DRV to be represented by the Chinese Embassy in this country [RGASPI, op. 3, d. 1080, l. 55]. It is clear that in those conditions this was a mere formality, but this fact gives some grounds to assert that there were no direct links between the USSR and the DRV at that time. However, it should be noted that the Embassy of the DRV in Moscow appeared already in the spring of 1952. This event was preceded by certain procedures carried out in accordance with the norms of diplomatic law.

In the memorandum of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A. A. Gromyko addressed to I. V. Stalin dated December 12, 1950, a proposal was made "to give consent to the appointment of Nguyen Luong Bang as the DRV Ambassador to the Soviet Union." It was noted that one should refrain from appointing a Soviet ambassador to Vietnam, given that the DRV government does not yet have a permanent residence [Bukharkin, 1998, p.129]. Given the difficult internal political situation in Vietnam, the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) postponed the appointment of not only the USSR Ambassador to the DRV, but also the DRV Ambassador to the USSR. According to I. V. Bukharkin, this decision was apparently unexpected for the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.1
During 1951, the issue of the exchange of diplomatic representatives was not discussed, in any case, we were not able to identify documents confirming this fact.

On December 30, 1951, this question once again arose in connection with the desire of the DRV government to send its ambassador to Moscow. This was reported to I. V. Stalin in a note by A. A. Gromyko. A. A. Gromyko expressed the opinion that "in connection with the new appeal of the Vietnamese, the USSR Foreign Ministry considers it possible to agree to the appointment of the Vietnamese ambassador to the USSR, but without linking this issue with the appointment of the Soviet ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam" [cit. according to: Bukharkin, 1998, p. 129]. On December 31, 1951, the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) made a decision on the fundamental consent of the Soviet government to appoint the DRV ambassador to the USSR, which the USSR Foreign Ministry reported to the Vietnamese side on January 1, 1952 [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, port N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 1].

The next step was to get an agreman. Under the heading "Top secret" addressed to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. A. Zorin from his immediate superior A. Ya. Vyshinsky received a document containing a draft letter on the issue of giving consent to its issuance [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N PO, p. 3, l. 2]. Although consent was granted, the agreman was not issued for some time yet.2 Apparently, this was due to the fact that in ru-

1 Bukharkin I. V.-Russian diplomat. In 1998, he held the position of Deputy Director of the Historical and Documentary Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, President of the international Association "Diplomatic Archives". His article contains full texts of a number of important documents of that time with author's comments.

2 This was reported by the head of the department in a note marked "Top secret". Department of South-East Asia of the USSR Foreign Ministry M. Bakhitov: "However, we have not yet issued an agrement on Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Luong Bang" [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N BY, item N 3, l. 1].

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Before doing this, the Soviet leadership was interested in the identity of the first ambassador of the DRV.

When Moscow received information through diplomatic channels that it was Nguyen Luong Bang who would be appointed to the post of ambassador, a special dossier was compiled on him, from which it became clear that this person had considerable merits in the revolutionary movement of Vietnam, but he actually had no experience in diplomatic work. The "Draft letter to the Authority" provided basic information about the identity of the future ambassador: "Nguyen Luong Bang (age 50) comes from a working-class background, has been involved in the revolutionary movement since 1925, has been a member of the Communist Party since 1930, and is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The representative of Vietnam in Beijing, Phin, describes Nguyen Luong Bang as a politically prepared and stable communist " [WUA RF, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 2]. Employees of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered to accept the candidacy of the head of the diplomatic mission of Vietnam.

By the time the final decision was made, according to the USSR Ambassador to Beijing N. V. Roshchin, the entire staff of the future Vietnamese embassy was in Beijing, and the USSR Foreign Ministry considered that the DRV government should have given official consent to the appointment of Nguyen Luong Bang as the DRV Ambassador to the USSR [WUA RF, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 3]. The draft resolution signed by A. Y. Vyshinsky contained the following wording: "Instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR to inform the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam of the consent of the Soviet Government to appoint Nguyen Luong Bang as Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the USSR" [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 4].

In our opinion, the official note of the heads of the South-East Asia Department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A. E. Bogomolov, dated January 29, 1952, is indicative for changing the attitude towards the DRW: "On the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (January 30, 1950) Ho Chi Minh sent to the name of tov. Stalin I. V. congratulatory telegram. Last year, it was decided not to send a reply to Ho Chi Minh's similar telegram received on February 13. This year, we would consider it appropriate to respond to his telegram, taking into account, in particular, the upcoming arrival of the Vietnamese ambassador to Moscow. We ask for your instructions" [WUA RF, op. 9, por. N 3, inv. N 143, p. 2, d. 143-ext., l. 20].

The decision to establish an Embassy of the Democratic People's Republic of Vietnam in the USSR entailed an increase in the costs of the Soviet side, since the new Vietnamese Embassy needed significant material support, since the leadership of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was not able to allocate the necessary financial resources for its normal functioning.

On April 22, 1952, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A. Y. Vyshinsky received the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Luong Bang in connection with the upcoming presentation of credentials to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR N. M. Shvernik. It was a formal courtesy call, but the Soviet minister managed to ask not only about Ho Chi Minh's health, but also about the mood of the population in the liberated areas, as well as the number of American troops in Vietnam controlled by the Bao Dai regime. During the conversation, Nguyen Luong Bang confirmed to A. Y. Vyshinsky the information that the USSR Foreign Ministry already had: he has "no experience" of diplomatic activity and "will undoubtedly need help" [WUA RF, op. 7, d. 4, p. 3, l. 1-2].

Eight days later, A. Y. Vyshinsky received the following message from Nguyen Luong Bang: "Dear Comrade Vyshinsky. At the direction of President Ho Chi Minh City

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Central Committee of our Party, I submit for your consideration the question of paying the expenses of our Embassy in Moscow. The special conditions of our struggling country do not currently allow us to maintain the embassy at our own expense." Nguyen Luong Bang applied for a" periodic grant", once every three months, the amount of which will have to be adjusted each time (with the consent of the Soviet side) in accordance with the needs of Vietnamese diplomats for the successful implementation of their activities [RGASPI, op. 137, d.951, l. 27].

In a special message dated April 30, 1952 to the USSR Foreign Ministry, the Vietnamese ambassador asked for an advance payment of 100 thousand rubles. rub. "for urgent current needs". From the contents of this document, it becomes clear that earlier the Soviet side had already provided material assistance: "Money, in the amount of 35 thousand rubles, which was handed to us by Comrade. Roshchin in Beijing, already fully used up... the advance payment in the amount of 100 thousand rubles will be included in the subsidy that will be provided to us for the first quarter" [RGASPI, op. 137, d. 951, l. 28].

On May 20, 1952, the issue of providing assistance to the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Moscow was discussed at the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b), as a result of which the resolution "On granting a loan to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam for the maintenance of the Embassy in Moscow"was adopted:

1. Grant the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in connection with its request, an interest-free long-term loan for the maintenance of the Embassy of Vietnam in Moscow. Instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR to negotiate with the Embassy of Vietnam on the amount of the loan and the terms of its repayment, and submit relevant proposals to the Council of Ministers of the USSR in coordination with the Ministry of Finance of the USSR.

2. Prior to granting the loan, issue an advance in the amount of 100 thousand rubles to the Embassy of Vietnam by issuing the advance through an exchange of letters between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

3. Oblige the Ministry of Finance of the USSR (T. Zverev) to ensure the issuance of 100 thousand rubles to the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in accordance with paragraph 2 of this resolution " [RGASPI, op. 3, d. 1094, l. 75].

On May 21, 1952, Nguyen Luong Bang paid a visit to V. A. Zorin, during which he informed the Vietnamese Ambassador that in connection with his request for financial assistance for the maintenance of the Vietnamese embassy in Moscow, the USSR government decided to provide a long-term interest-free loan to the DRV government for this purpose. The amount, term and terms of repayment of the loan were to be determined through negotiations between the USSR Foreign Ministry and the Vietnamese Embassy. V. A. Zorin explained that the form of the loan on the proposed terms "best meets the dignity of interested parties" and that in the past the USSR concluded agreements on similar loans with other people's democratic countries. He asked the ambassador to prepare his proposals on the terms of the loan and indicated that he should contact the head of the Southeast Asia Department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs M. Bakhitov regarding the details of the loan agreement, and before settling the details of the agreement, the embassy could receive an advance payment of 100,000 rubles for the future loan. To receive an advance payment, the Embassy should contact the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a corresponding letter.

The Vietnamese Ambassador expressed gratitude to the Soviet Government for granting the request for financial assistance. He especially thanked for the fact that the Soviet side offered a form of assistance that " respects the dignity of Vietnam." At the end of the conversation, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the USSR said that the Ambassador's report on the situation in Vietnam is currently being studied. Nguyen Luong Bang, in turn, expressed his readiness to provide additional explanations on the do-

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I put them in if they are required [WUA RF, op. 7, d. 4, p. 3, l. 8-9]. On May 26, 1952, A. Y. Vyshinsky informed Nguyen Luong Bang 3 that the Soviet government had allocated funds for the maintenance of the embassy as a future loan to the DRV Government [Bukharkin, 1998, p.129].

On May 30, 1952, A. Ya. Vyshinsky was sent a draft agreement on granting the DRV a long-term loan for the maintenance of the Vietnamese Embassy in Moscow for further consideration by the Council of Ministers of the USSR [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 7].

Taking on the role of an assistant and adviser, the USSR in some cases found it possible to adjust the plans of its Vietnamese colleagues in expanding diplomatic contacts with other countries. An example confirming this statement is a note dated June 14, 1952, addressed to V. A. Zorin, compiled by S. S. Nemchina, a responsible employee of the USSR Foreign Ministry's office: "On June 9, this year, the Vietnamese Ambassador in Moscow, Nguyen Luong Bang, in a conversation with me, raised a number of questions, the essence of which I report to you as follows:

1. About the exchange of letters between prominent people of Vietnam and Soviet Stakhanovites.

2. About the organization of services for the cultural needs of Vietnamese students in Moscow.

3. About the meeting of the Ambassador with com. Torezom.

4. On the organization of the Vietnamese Embassy in Prague " [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 5].

According to the South-East Asia Division, the expansion of diplomatic relations of the DRW would help to strengthen its international prestige. However, the establishment of the Vietnamese Embassy in Czechoslovakia will inevitably require the Czechoslovak leadership to allocate the necessary funds from its budget for the maintenance of the Vietnamese Embassy in Prague. The note emphasized that " the Vietnamese Ambassador could express in general terms our private opinion that the organization of Vietnamese embassies in Prague and other countries with which Vietnam has established diplomatic relations will certainly contribute to strengthening Vietnam's international position, but that on these issues the Vietnamese government should find out the possibility of organizing its embassies in Prague and other countries with this or that country directly with the interested countries " [WUA of the Russian Federation, op. 7, por. N 7, ind. N 110, p. 3, l. 5-6].

In August 1954, shortly after the end of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, the Soviet Embassy was opened in Hanoi. On November 4 of the same year, the first USSR Ambassador to the DRV, A. A. Lavrishchev, presented his credentials to President Ho Chi Minh.

In the late 60s of the 20th century, the USSR established official contacts with the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, which was in opposition to the Saigon authorities.

The unification of Vietnam into one state took place in 1976, and since then a new stage of bilateral relations has begun, characterized by close military-political and economic ties. United Vietnam under AML-

3 It should be noted that the position of the first ambassador of the DRV to the USSR for Nguyen Luong Bang was a successful start in his further party and political career. In different years, he was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, served as Vice-President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He died in 1979. In the mid-1980s, streets of major cities in Vietnam were named after the leaders of the CPV of the post - war period-prominent political figures of the country. This honor was also awarded to Nguyen Luong Bang (for more information, see Tsvetov, 2007, p. 441).

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He was admitted to the UN in 1977 and became a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) in 1978.

list of literature

Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (WUA RF). F. 079.

Bukharkin I. V. Kreml ' i Ho Chi Minh City. 1945-1969 gg. [The Kremlin and Ho Chi Minh City in 1945-1969]. 1998. N 3.

Izvestia. 31.01.1950.

Ilinsky M. M. Vietnamese syndrome. Voyna razvedok [War of Intelligence], Moscow: EKSMO Publ., 2005.

Konoreva I. A. The USSR and diplomatic recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in January 1950 // Questions of history. 2008. N 2.

Ognetov I. A. Recognition of the DRV (from the history of Soviet-Vietnamese relations). 2004. N3.

Truth. 31.01.1950.

Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI). F. 17.

Selivanov, I. N. The problem of the representation of Vietnam to the UN in the second half of the 40's - late 50-ies of XX century and the position of the USSR (according to the archival materials of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation) // problems of the history of international relations in modern and contemporary times. Tambov: Tambov State University Publ., 2006.

Tsvetov P. Y. Rol ' politiko-ideologicheskogo faktora v formirovanii toponimii gorodov V Nama [The role of political and ideological factor in the formation of toponymy of Vietnamese cities].

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