The head of Myanmar’s military junta has praised Russia’s support for his beleaguered military administration, as he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday.
During a televised meeting at the Kremlin, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing thanked Russia for its diplomatic and military backing and expressed support for Putin’s war in Ukraine, now into its third year. “I believe that victory must be yours under your strong and decisive leadership,” he told Putin, according to the AFP news agency.
Describing Putin as a “king,” the general thanked Putin for delivering six fighter jets to the junta, which were matched by a gift of six elephants from Myanmar, presented on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
Putin hailed the “substantive and constructive” talks with Min Aung Hlaing, and said that Myanmar and Russia were “bound by truly strong bonds of friendship, traditions of support, and mutual assistance,” according to a statement from his office.
He added that the two nations had “great potential” in the realm of trade, which rose 40 percent last year. “And of course, I cannot but thank you for your very warm gift: You brought us six elephants last year, and they have already been given to the Moscow Zoo,” Putin said, Reuters reported.
This week’s trip was Min Aung Hlaing’s fourth visit to Russia since the coup, but his first official meeting with the Russian president, although the pair met on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September 2022.
The warmth of the embrace between Putin and Min Aung Hlaing reflects the new closeness in relations between Moscow and Naypyidaw, both viewed as pariahs by the United States and most of the West. As I noted earlier this week, Russia has provided vital military and diplomatic backing for Myanmar’s military administration since its seizure of power in February 2021, which has resulted in far-reaching Western sanctions. In return, Myanmar leapt at the opportunity to defend Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the only Southeast Asian government to do so.
“Despite the illegitimate sanctions against Russia and Myanmar, our trade and economic cooperation is developing successfully, and mutual trade is growing,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said during an earlier meeting with junta officials, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency. “There is a potential for boosting cooperation in energy, nuclear energy, transport infrastructure, and agriculture.”
The two sides signed an agreement on construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Myanmar, a project that has been in the works for some time. Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear power corporation, said that the proposed facility would have a capacity of 100 megawatts with the possibility of trebling that capacity.
Russian companies also plan to invest in Myanmar’s special economic zone in Dawei. Mishustin also referenced an agreement reportedly signed last month, which outlined plans for Russia “to build a port, a coal-fired thermal power plant and an oil refinery.” The Dawei project was suspended in 2013 due to a lack of investor interest and has been dormant ever since.
In a statement, the National Unity Government (NUG), which is coordinating the opposition to the junta, said that the meeting between Putin and Min Aung Hlaing was “not merely a diplomatic engagement—it is a clear and deliberate act of support for a regime accused of genocide.” The meeting “further demonstrates Russia’s willingness to provide political legitimacy and strategic backing to an illegitimate and brutal military dictatorship.”