VOV: How do you feel each year on President Ho’s birth anniversary (May 19)?

Mr Kobelev: President Ho’s birthday is very sacred to me and I have my own ways to celebrate his birthday. I often give lectures on President Ho to my students or look over the materials I have collected during my lifetime.

VOV: Did you meet President Ho?

Mr Kobelev: Yes, several times. I first met him when I studied and worked in Vietnam as a correspondent of the former USSR News Agency (Itar-TASS). I remember that in 1959, president Ho visited us when we were working at Hanoi’s Bay Mau lake. At the time I was a student of the Literature-History Faculty of Hanoi University. He appeared very simple and close to people. He gave cordial talks and planted a tree with us.

Thirty years later, I had a chance to return to that site and found that the tree had grown into a big one. I also met President Ho when he visited the USSR Embassy in Hanoi on festive occasions.

In 1966 I attended an Emulation Congress to honour outstanding soldiers at Ba Dinh Hall in Hanoi as an Itar- TASS correspondent. I met him again and witnessed his noble behaviour. After presenting awards to soldiers who excelled in their affairs, he looked at all comrades of the Party Political Bureau and asked the awardees, ‘Do you know that you were awarded orders and medals, but all Political Bureau members were not, though they worked very hard?’ I was really impressed by his words.

VOV: Could you introduce one of your works on President Ho of which you are most proud?

Mr Kobelev: It was the book Comrade Ho Chi Minh. It was an artwork, not a political work. I studied and lived in Vietnam for five years and had chances to meet with President Ho. Returning to Russia, I decided to write a book about Ho Chi Minh and began to collect materials. Within three years, I collected more than 100 books on President Ho written in Vietnamese, English, Russian, French and even Chinese. It was a wonderful time in my life because I felt as if I met him – a special man - every day.

In 1979, the USSR Youth Publisher included Comrade Ho Chi Minh in its series The prominent figures of the world. In 1983, the book was republished, and by the time about 200,000 copies had been printed. Later, the book was translated in many different languages such as Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Mongolian, Kazak and Czech. To mark President Ho’s 100th birth anniversary in 1990, the USSR Progress Publisher brought out the book again in Vietnamese, English and Laotian.

Also in 1990, I was invited to an international workshop on President Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi and delivered a long speech. I decided to speak in Vietnamese and it was the first time in my life I spoke it in front of large audiences. I visited the Ho Chi Minh Museums in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and I presented the book to the two museums.

VOV: Vietnam has launched a public campaign “Studying and Following President Ho Chi Minh’s Moral Example”. As a researcher of President Ho, what do you think of the campaign?

Mr Kobelev: I think the campaign is of great significance to young people. President Ho had great personal characteristics, including simplicity and modesty. He devoted his whole life to the struggle for national independence and the people’s happiness. Currently, Vietnam is implementing the Doi Moi (Renewal) process, so his revolutionary morality should be studied and observed. This means more efforts should be made to implement the Renewal policy, to move the nation forward as your motto says “A rich people” and “A strong country”.