MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted deepening ties with Myanmar as he met his counterpart Min Aung Hlaing in Moscow during the former junta chief’s first trip to his country’s close ally since taking office in April.
Relations between Russia and Myanmar have grown "especially trusting” in recent years, Putin said at the Kremlin talks on Tuesday (Aug 18) Russia is looking to build a power plant and an oil refinery in southern Myanmar and wants to be involved in geological exploration and hydrocarbon production there as well, Putin said.
He was joined by high-ranking foreign policy, financial, energy and defence officials, underscoring the focus on economic and security cooperation. Putin said Russia has established "close military and military-technical cooperation” with Myanmar.
"We are actively cooperating on the international stage and, of course, we need to do some work on the economic track,” Putin said, adding that he saw "good prospects” also for cooperation on liquefied natural gas exports.
Russia is one of the few major countries to have maintained close ties with Myanmar’s military rulers since the 2021 coup, while much of the West has isolated them.
It’s at least the fourth meeting between Min Aung Hlaing and Putin since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted sweeping Western sanctions, but the first since the Myanmar leader formally became president after an election that drew widespread international criticism.
Ties between the two countries span nuclear technology and defence. Myanmar is working with Russia’s Rosatom State Corporation to build a small nuclear power plant, an initial step in using the technology in health, agriculture and industry.
Russia was also a major supplier of advanced weapons to Myanmar’s military, accounting for more than US$400 million since the coup, according to a UN report in May 2023.
The Moscow meeting adds to Min Aung Hlaing’s recent run of overseas visits as he seeks greater acceptance of his new government after the disputed election.
He has traveled to China, India, Laos and Thailand since the military-backed parliament chose him as president. His administration has also sought to improve relations with the US and Asean, even as it rejects calls to free ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
A high-level delegation including several ministers and the head of the Myanmar Space Agency arrived in Moscow on Monday. Min Aung Hlaing also met Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house. He also planned to attend the Myanmar-Russia Business Forum.
Putin’s top security aide, Sergei Shoigu, traveled to the South-East Asian nation in February, becoming the first foreign official to visit after the election that Western democracies and the United Nations described as flawed. Putin last met Min Aung Hlaing at the World Atomic Week Forum in Moscow in September. - Bloomberg
