Defense Intelligence: Russia and Vietnam organized a scheme to circumvent the oil price ceiling

A series of agreements between Moscow and Hanoi provide for fixing the minimum selling price of Russian oil at no lower than $75 per barrel, which is significantly higher than the price ceiling.

The agreements also provide for the right to establish subsidiaries in third countries, which opens up the possibility of exporting Russian oil under the guise of Vietnamese oil, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.  

In particular, the package of documents provides for the expansion of joint oil and gas production on Russian territory and the Vietnamese shelf with the participation of the companies Zarubezhneft, Petrovietnam and the joint venture Vietsovpetro.

Vietnamese and Russian structures will receive additional licenses to develop new subsoil areas in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (RF) and the extension of the terms of existing licenses – until 2050.

Also, the right to create subsidiaries in third countries will allow Russia to hide the real origin of energy resources.

The Defense Intelligence noted that it is particularly indicative that the Russian-Vietnamese agreement stipulates a minimum oil sales price of no less than $75 per barrel, which is significantly higher than the price ceiling of $47.6 per barrel that the European Union countries introduced in July 2025.

“Given the Kremlin’s attempts to fix a “guaranteed” oil price in the long term, it is quite likely that Russian special services will intensify operations to interfere in international energy chains — in particular, they will carry out sabotage at infrastructure facilities of foreign states,” the intelligence service emphasizes.

In parallel, Russia is strengthening its humanitarian and military-technical presence in Vietnam – by creating a “Russian language center” and implementing an agreement on control over the use of Soviet and Russian-made MANPADS, which were previously supplied to Vietnam.

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