E. V. KOBELEV Candidate of Historical Sciences Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Keywords: Vietnam, Hanoi University, Ho Chi Minh City, Army General Vo Nguyen Ziap In 2015, Moscow and Hanoi solemnly celebrated the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Vietnam (January 30, 1950). On the occasion of this significant date, Vietnamese Central Television produced a documentary film, which for the first time showed the story that in 1958-1960 three first Soviet students studied at Hanoi University. a student. Among them was the author of the proposed essay. I graduated from the famous Simferopol school in 1956 with a gold medal and, confident in myself, rushed to "conquer" Moscow - from childhood I dreamed of studying at Moscow State University. And my dream came true -quite easily I entered the newly opened Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University (now ISAA MSU) in the Vietnamese language department. COURSE - TO HANOI In my school years, three words - Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, Dien Bien Phu - were constantly heard by Soviet people, they were constantly heard on the radio, and often appeared on the front pages of newspapers. The stories of journalists who visited Vietnam in the 1950s-first fighting against the French colonialists, and then happily inhaling the first breaths of peace and freedom - gave rise to images of a distant, romantic, attractive country in my mind. There were six of us in the Vietnamese language group, all of us from school. We studied with great interest and, of course, dreamed, although without much hope (at that time it was very difficult to go abroad), that one day we would be able to visit the exotic "Country of the South" (as the teachers translated the name Vietnam for us)- to replenish our meager knowledge of its rich history. its history, its heroic people, and finally, experience" your " Vietnamese on the spot. So when, in the middle of 1958, I was suddenly informe ... Read more