Following the fall of oil prices Russia has been looking for ways to boost the export of other products and is increasingly focusing on building not only commercial trade ties, but using them to weave a tight political web of allies in other emerging markets in Asia. 

Trade between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) increased by 21% year-on-year to 21% in January-June 2017, according to the data of the General Department of Vietnam Customs reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

Trade between Russia-led economic union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the South-East Asian nation picked up after the free trade that came into effect in October 2016.

The creation of the EEU dovetails with China’s ambitions to connect with Europe overland and some analysts have argued Russia’s push to develop a fully integrated EEU, along the lines of the European Union (EU), is in part designed to improve Russia’s barging hand with China.

China for its part is keen to develop land based transport links with Europe as one of the world’s three main markets, as it is anticipating trouble with the US that has dominance of the sea routes. China has no significant navy.

Beijing has found a willing partner in Moscow who is also motivated by trade routes that are immune to US interference. Russia's trade with China is expanding rapidly from about $5bn a year turnover in the 90s but is on course to hit $80bn this year and $200bn in 2020.

"This year, for six to seven months, growth of trade turnover amounted to around 30%. If we keep this momentum, then by the end of the year our trade will reach $80bn and even slightly more," Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov said on August 28 reports Tass.

Concurrently trade with Europe has become harder. The European Commission (EC) recently found in a report that barriers to trade between Russia and the EU are high, and the level of trade is falling slowly; Russo-European was €191bn in 2016.

In addition to China, Russia is keen to build its own trade network in SE Asia and has latched on developing long standing ties with Vietnam.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade that held a seminar on trade with EEU on August 25, estimates that about 900 Vietnamese exporters are active in the EEU, with key exports including seafood, coffee, rubber, tea, rice, apparel, wood products and confectionary. 

In turn, the representative of Russian trade office in Vietnam Vyachslav Kharinov noted that this year an increase in imports of Russian food, coal, steel, paper products and chemicals to Vietnam was seen, with growth of imports of mobile phone components, apparel and farm produce to Russia, which make up 90% of about $3bn annual turnover.

In parallel trade between Russia and Turkey is also likely to get a fillip thanks to geopolitical tension. Trade relations were hurt when the Kremlin imposed sanctions on Turkey following the shooting down of a Russian bomber over the Turkish border in 2014, but have since improved.

The goal of increasing trade turnover between Turkey and Russia from the current $16bn to "around $100bn is achievable," Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Erkhov said on August 28 at a meeting with a group of journalists in Ankara, Tass reports.