The head of Myanmar’s besieged military junta is traveling to Russia at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, who he is slated to meet with tomorrow.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s trip was announced on Saturday in Myanmar state media, with the Global New Light of Myanmar describing it as “an official goodwill visit.” It said that Min Aung Hlaing would be accompanied by other members of the military’s State Administration Council (SAC) and ministers from the junta administration, who would meet with their Russian counterparts “to discuss issues related to friendship, economic affairs and security, and to strengthen strategic cooperation across all sectors.”
The Irrawaddy reported that Min Aung Hlaing will also meet with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the speaker of the Russian State Duma, and other government officials.
According to a terse statement from Putin’s office, “the parties will discuss prospects for further development of mutually beneficial Russian-Myanmar cooperation, as well as topical international issues.” It added that the two sides “planned to adopt a joint statement and sign a number of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents.” Neither side’s statements made clear the length of the visit.
The trip is set to place a seal on the rapid strategic convergence that has taken place between Russia and Myanmar since Min Aung Hlaing overthrew his country’s democratically elected government in February 2021 and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine a year later. Relations between the two nations were already warm, but with both nations finding themselves sanctioned and shunned by the United States and most of the West, they have assumed a fresh strategic salience.
Russia was the only major power to recognize the Myanmar military’s seizure of power, something that even China balked at doing in the initial months after the coup. A rota of Russian officials, both major and minor, have visited Naypyidaw over the past few years, while Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia on three separate occasions. He also met with Putin in September 2022, on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
In February 2022, his military regime dutifully endorsed the Russian invasion of Ukraine – the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to do so – and Min Aung Hlaing has praised Putin for his vision and leadership.
As Ian Storey argued in a 2023 article in Fulcrum, aside from diplomatic support and validation, Myanmar-Russia cooperation has focused on three areas: defense, energy, and commerce and tourism.
On the first count, Russia has offered the Myanmar military crucial international support, including supplies of arms. Since the coup, junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has made three visits to Russia, brokering deals for modern Russian-made jet fighters, helicopters, and military equipment. On the energy front, Myanmar’s junta has also begun negotiations with Rosatom, Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation, with an eye to the eventual construction of a small-scale nuclear reactor in Myanmar.
Russia has also played a more minor role in helping the junta economically. While it has never been a major trade or investment partner, it has the potential to make up for at least some of the shortfall left by the withdrawal en masse of Western and Japanese firms from Myanmar since the coup. For instance, The Irrawaddy reported last week that Maxim Reshetnikov, the Russian minister for economic development, had signed an agreement with Kan Zaw, the junta’s investment minister, to restart the Dawei Special Economic Zone and port project in Tanintharyi Region, which was suspended in 2013.
As long as the junta remains in place in Naypyidaw, this cooperation is likely to broaden and deepen. For Russia, Myanmar’s military junta remains an important spoiler and foil to what remains of the U.S.-led “rules-based international order.” For the SAC, Russia has now become arguably its most cherished international partner. Unlike China, whose direct strategic and economic interests in Myanmar have always created a sense of unease among the military high command, Russia is a distant friend that has both the means to offer Myanmar a lifeline, particular in terms of defense sales, and the motivation to ensure the military junta’s survival, in whatever form.
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