VLADIVOSTOK, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian trade union has requested international assistance for the repatriation of around 60 Russian sailors who were "abandoned" in Vietnam by ship owners.

The Russian Seamen's Trade Union branch in the country's Far East had received an appeal from the crews of six fishing vessels left by their Russian owners near the Vietnamese port of Ho Chi Minh. The sailors have not been paid wages for several months.

"We will appeal to the International Transport Workers' Federation for assistance, and ask for funds to repatriate them," Nikolai Sukhanov told RIA Novosti.

The crews of another two Russian vessels detained in China over debt arrears appealed on Wednesday to the Russian president and prosecutor general to secure their return home.

Chinese authorities impounded the Vasily Yan cargo ship and the Professor Voskresensky vessel over debts of the ships' owner, Russia's Arctic Shipping Company. Both vessels had been undergoing repairs in the port of Shanghai since last September, and currently have insufficient reserves of food, fuel, and drinking water.