Russia mulls restoring military bases in Vietnam and Cuba

MOSCOW: Russia is considering plans to resume its military presence in Vietnam and Cuba where Moscow earlier had military bases, Russian news agencies quoted Russian Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov as saying on Friday.

"We are dealing with this issue," the agencies quoted Pankov as saying in the State Duma lower house of Russia's parliament.

He said the Defence Ministry was currently "rethinking" the past decisions on the closure of these bases, but declined to go into more detail.

Russia lowered its flag at the Lourdes signals intelligence base in Cuba and the Cam Rahn naval base in Vietnam in the early 2000s as part of a drawing down of Russia's military presence around the world after the demise of the Soviet Union.

But since then, Moscow's foreign policy has become more assertive, leading to rows with the United States and its allies over, among other issues, the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and the presence of NATO troops in eastern Europe.