Authorities in the Vietnamese capital cut off the electricity to a building hosting a Ukrainian cultural seminar over the weekend, sources said on Monday, in the latest attempt by the one-party communist state to disrupt a related event to Ukraine since its ally Russia invaded the country in February.

On July 16, a group of Vietnamese intellectuals who had lived and studied in Ukraine organized a seminar on Ukrainian culture at the Sena Technological Research Institute in Hanoi. Representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine in Vietnam, including Ukrainians business manager Nataliya Zhynkina and several Ukrainian students studying in Hanoi were present.

The seminar began with a performance of Ukrainian music by a group of visually impaired students from Hanoi’s Nguyen Dinh Chieu School, but the building’s electricity went out in the middle of the performance, which organizers and activists said attributed to official malfeasance.

Despite the interruption, the seminar went off in the dark, activist Dang Bich Phuong told Vietnamese RFA on Monday.

“It was inconvenient in terms of comfort, but otherwise the event went as planned. People were still reading poems, and a musician sitting in the corner was still playing his guitar passionately in the dark. It was so touching,” Phuong said.

“I noticed that most people accepted the situation very calmly. Despite the darkness, the choir was still singing and people were still cheering enthusiastically as poems were read, while others held lights for them. I was very moved and moved. »

Organizers and activists told RFA that prior to the event, several people planning to attend said they were watched by police or prevented from attending by authorities.

“A cultural problem”

Nguyen Khac Mai, director of the Minh Triet Research Center and organizer of the seminar, said Vietnamese scholars who studied in Ukraine before becoming leaders in their fields had asked to attend the event to celebrate the country where they graduated. their degrees.

“These are people who have been nurtured and taught by Ukraine,” he said. “Now that they have succeeded, they want to come together and talk to each other about their feelings for Ukraine and its people.”

Mai said the seminar also aimed to amplify an earlier statement by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that “Vietnam does not choose sides, but chooses justice.”

Instead, he said, authorities tried to silence those who would speak out in favor of Ukraine.

“Usually a power failure is a technical problem. I think it was not a technical problem, but a cultural one. It is very difficult to solve a cultural problem because it lies in its heart [and mind],” he said.

“Some agree that you have to be able to carry out cultural activities in a natural and friendly way. But others don’t like it and [cut the electricity] because of that.”

In an email response to RFA’s questions about the event, the Ukrainian business manager Nataliya Zhynkina said that, despite the disruption, “I believe we all felt surrounded by friendship.”

“We heard praise for Ukrainian culture, history, lifestyle and people, as well as words of consolation for the losses caused by the Russian military and my suffering compatriots,” she said. declared.

Zhynkina quoted the words of the wife of Ukraine’s ambassador to Vietnam, who spoke at the end of Saturday’s cultural event, to describe the feelings of those present.

“She said: ‘Our hearts cry out every day for our country when we receive horrible news from back home. But do you know when the pain subsides? That’s when it’s shared by loved ones, Vietnamese sharing pain with Ukrainians.

strong covenant

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Vietnam has repeatedly refused to condemn the war and has also opposed a US-led effort to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov became the first Russian minister to visit Hanoi since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” against Ukraine. His visit came as Hanoi and Moscow celebrated the 10th anniversary of the so-called “comprehensive strategic partnership” that Vietnam has forged with only three nations in the world – the other two being China and India.

Moscow is Hanoi’s traditional ally and biggest arms supplier. Most Vietnamese weapons used by the navy and air force were purchased from Russia, leading to a future reliance on Russian maintenance and spare parts, despite the efforts of diversification of arms supplies.

The weekend seminar was not the first Ukraine-related event in Hanoi to be blocked by authorities.

On March 5, police in the capital prevented people from leaving their homes to attend a charity event at the Ukrainian Embassy dedicated to raising funds for those in need in Ukraine. Another fundraising event planned for March 19 by a group of Ukrainians living in Hanoi was canceled due to police harassment, sources in the city told RFA at the time.

Despite COVID-19, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Russia reached 5.54 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, a 14 percent increase from a year earlier, according to official statistics.

Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.