Russia Bases Cuba Vietnam

Russia Bases Cuba Vietnam - Russia is in talks to set up naval bases in former Cold War allies Cuba and Vietnam as President Vladimir Putin undertakes the country's biggest military overhaul since the Soviet era.

"We are working on establishing navy bases outside Russia," Vice-Admiral Viktor Chirkov said in an interview with the state-run RIA Novosti news service and confirmed by the navy. "We aim to set up resupply bases in Cuba, the Seychelles and Vietnam."

Russian plans for overseas military expansion threatens to further strain relations with the United States at a time when the former superpower rivals are at loggerheads over American missile-shield plans and fighting in Syria. Putin's government plans to spend $712 billion this decade on defense spending.

Russia risks losing its only military base outside the former Soviet Union, a naval resupply facility in the Syrian port of Tartus, as President Bashar Assad fights for survival in the face of a 17-month uprising.

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang said his country is ready to allow Russia to set up a servicing facility in Can Ramh Bay, a former Soviet naval base though Vietnam will not lease its territory to any country, in an interview broadcast by Voice of Russia radio. Russia doesn't have the naval resources at the moment for a permanent presence outside its territorial waters, with only about 30 major warships split between five fleets, so the possibility of opening resupply bases doesn't mean an expansion of Russian maritime power, said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent defense analyst in Moscow.

"But this is good news for the U.S. navy," which is seeking more funding, said Felgenhauer. "They can go to Congress to warn that Russia is trying to get a presence around the world."

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