Vietnam’s President and the General Secretary of the Communist Party To Lam is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday. “We’re expecting very substantive high-level talks today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a morning press briefing.

Visiting Moscow and Paris in succession allows To Lam to rally support for Hanoi’s maritime stance without taking sides, analysts say.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin agreed on the need to bring about stronger…