HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has placed orders for Russian weapons and military services worth more than $1 billion, Russia’s TASS news agency has reported, as the Southeast Asian country bolsters its defense capability.

“We have a portfolio of orders worth more than $1 billion,” TASS cited Dmitry Shugayev, head of Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, as saying on Thursday.

The report came during a visit to Russia by Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party.

It did not give any details of the deals.

Vietnam and Russia have had close relations for decades.

Russia is Vietnam’s biggest weapons supplier and Russian companies are involved in several Vietnamese energy projects.

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