Putin back home after touring S.Korea and Vietnam

President Vladimir Putin has returned to Moscow from official visits to Vietnam and the Republic of Korea. His plane landed at the Vnukovo-2 Airport in the wee hours of the day. During the first ever official visit by the Russian President to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Tran Duc Luong signed a declaration on strategic partnership. The Russian President also had meetings with other Vietnamese leaders. At a brief meeting with the Vietnamese President before his departure from Hanoi Mr. Putin said that his visit "exceeded all his expectations," according to RIA Novosti. The Russian President was most of all impressed by the cordial reception he felt everywhere. He regarded this as the projection of the good feelings of the Vietnamese people for Russia. Mr. Putin hopes that the important documents, which were signed in the course of his visit, will afford grounds for further cooperation between the two countries. Before Vietnam, the Russian President visited South Korea where he had interesting and extensive negotiations with President Kim Dae-jung and addressed the parliament of that country.