Laotian–Soviet relations refers to the historical relationship between Laos and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Early years

Laos and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations on 7 October 1960. The Laotian representative in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

was accredited to the Soviet Union, and the Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Cambodia was accredited to Laos.

Socialist construction in Laos

With the victory of the Pathet Lao, Laos and the Soviet Union developed close links between each other. Soviet aid workers substituted American aid workers as the political realities in Laos shifted. Laos clearly recognized the Soviet position as the leading force in the

Socialist Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

. The two states began exchanging a wide stream of state, party, army, youth and friendship delegations. Moreover, the Soviet Union contributed to the build-up of the Laotian armed forces.

Final period

At its peak, Soviet aid to Laos made up the bulk of the foreign assistance that Laos received. Soviet aid in the 1980s included the presence of some 1,500 technicians and advisers. Many Laotian students studied at Soviet institutions, some 300 Laotian students received scholarships to study in the Soviet Union every year. The Soviet Union also contributed to infrastructure projects, such as the building of roads, airports, bridges, broadcasting facilities and hospitals. The state-to-state assistance also included large deliveries of military materials, such as

MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...

fighter jets. But in 1989, a gradual reduction of Soviet aid took place.
Soviet Union
' By 1990, the Soviet bilateral external aid to Laos had been reduced to 36% of the total amount of foreign assistance that Laos received in that year. That was a reduction from a previous level of 60%. The number of scholarships for studies in the Soviet Union was drastically reduced as well. Moreover, as the Soviets shifted their focus of their increasingly limited diplomatic leverage in the region towards trying to consolidate cooperation of the other permanent members of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

for the sake of finding a settlement to the

Cambodian Civil War The Cambodian Civil War ( km, សង្គ្រាមស៊ីវិលកម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vi ...

, relations with Laos were deprioritzed even further. As the Soviet Union fell apart, Laos began reorienting itself towards developing better relations with its South-East Asian neighbours. In 1997, Laos joined

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

.
Background Note: Laos
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laos-Soviet Union relations Bilateral relations of the Soviet Union

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Laos–Russia relations