Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to form a coalition of countries to attempt to position this alliance as a viable alternative to NATO, according to a report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Analysts note that this involves countries with historically warm ties to the USSR. Before he visited Vietnam on June 19, Putin published an article in the Vietnamese state newspaper Nhân Dân, using much of the same rhetoric as in his June 18 article in the North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun. “Putin invoked the historical memory of the Soviet Union’s support for Viet…