HANOI, June 19 (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin praised Vietnam for its "balanced" stance on the Ukraine war and listed progress on payments, energy and trade in an opinion piece published on Wednesday in the newspaper of Vietnam's Communist Party.

In the piece timed for Putin's state visit to Vietnam, he applauded the Southeast Asian Communist-ruled country for supporting "a pragmatic way to solve the crisis" in Ukraine, in comments published in the Nhan Dan newspaper. (Reporting by Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio Editing by Ed Davies)