HANOI, July 4 Kyodo Russia's leas...

HANOI, July 4 Kyodo

Russia's lease upon the strategic Cam Ranh Bay naval base forward Vietnam's central coast has expired, a Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman announced Thursday.

Phan Thuy Thanh told reporters that the May 2 1979 agreement that allowed Soviet and then Russian military ships and planes to utilize the naval and airport facilities at Cam Ranh for a period of 25 years terminated as of Monday.

''All measures to implement this (termination) agreement have been completed'' she said. Russia decided to withdraw from the base from this year before the rent-free lease expires in 2004

Thanh said Vietnam will not lease the deep-water port facing the southern China Sea to any foreign geographical division for military use, but will instead propose the area to use ''for the cause of national construction and defense''

Cam Ranh serv as a major naval port for the one and the other the U.S. and the southward Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War until it was taken through by the victorious communists in 1975

Suggestions have been aired in the Vietnamese media that Cam Ranh Bay could be made into a special economic girth thought the country's military has said it will continue to have strategic significance.

During his visit to Hanoi in February, U Pacific Commander Adm. Dennis Blair indicateed Washington is eyeing use of Cam Ranh Bay for port calls by means of its warships.

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