The history of Soviet/Russian-Lao relations, as well as our country's relations with Vietnam and Cambodia, is a vivid testimony to the great role that the Soviet Union played in the struggle of the peoples of Indochina for their independence, and the opportunities that the traditions of friendship and cooperation offer in the current new conditions, which are not yet fully realized. Friends are known in trouble. And such a friend for the peoples of Indochina in the dark years of the "dirty war" of the United States in this region was the USSR, which provided material assistance to the patriotic forces, including weapons and military equipment, and diplomatic support. Laos failed to take advantage of the 1962 Geneva agreements on its neutrality and achieve national unity. By unleashing the Vietnam War, Washington went to undermine these agreements, to directly interfere in the internal affairs of Laos. From mid-1964, American aircraft began to make reconnaissance flights over the territory of Laos, and then began systematic aerial bombardment and shelling of the zone under the control of the Lao Patriotic Front1. There was part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through which the supply of partisans of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam was carried out. Following the signing of the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam in January 1973 in Paris, representatives of the patriotic forces and the Vientiane Government signed the Agreement on Restoring Peace and National Accord in Laos in February 1973 in Vientiane. After the proclamation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) in 1975, Soviet-Lao cooperation reached a qualitatively new level. S. WAN THANUVONG Deputy. Head of the Department of European and US Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR Russia, Laos, Keywords: 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations October 7, 2010 The Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Russian Federation will celebrate the 50th annivers ... Read more