Vietnamese people in Russia form the 72nd-largest ethnic minority community in Russia according to the 2022 census. With a population of 80,000 according to the Vietnamese embassy in Moscow as of 2023, they are one of the smaller groups of overseas Vietnamese.[5][6]
In 1926, Vietnamese students were sent to study in Russia under an initiative of Hồ Chí Minh. A number of them served the Soviet Army during World War II.[7]Ho Chi Minh himself studied in Moscow in the 1920s, along with other senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam.[8] They were followed by an estimated total of 50,000 Vietnamese who studied in Russia during the Cold War.[9] Academic exchange between the two countries continued even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union; as of 2006[update], roughly 4,000 Vietnamese students were studying in Russian universities; the Russian government provides scholarships to 160 of them.[10] Notable Vietnamese students who have studied in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union include Quynh Nguyen, a pianist from Hanoi who received a scholarship to Moscow's Gnessin State Musical College.[11]