Russia, Belarus send senior military officials to Myanmar to mark Armed Forces Day

The leader of Myanmar’s military junta, Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, marked the country’s 80th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw on Thursday in the company of senior Russian and Belarusian military officials, according to state media reports.A delegation led by Col-Gen Alexander Fomin, Russia’s deputy defence minister, landed in the regime’s capital on Wednesday afternoon, and was followed later in the day by Lt-Gen Viktar Khrenin, defence minister of Belarus, the reports said.The high-level visits come just weeks after Min Aung Hlaing met with the leaders of Russia and Belarus during trips to both countries earlier this month.While in Moscow, Min Aung Hlaing and Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed strengthening ties between the two countries since Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup in February 2021.During the visit, the two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding that would see Russia’s state-owned Rosatom nuclear power agency build a small-scale 110-MW reactor, capable of being expanded to 330 MW, in Myanmar.Alongside this nuclear deal, the junta chief also reportedly invited Russia to extract natural resources in active war zones, a move seen by some analysts as an effort to draw Russia deeper into Myanmar’s ongoing civil conflict.Before the visit, the Russian and Myanmar regimes also struck a deal to build a special economic zone in the southern Myanmar port town of Dawei with the backing of Russian companies.In Belarus, the two sides also signed at least 10 bilateral trade and investment agreements, according to Belarusian state media.Myanmar has been in a state of turmoil since the 2021 coup sparked a nationwide armed resistance movement that has shown no signs of weakening. The country has also faced renewed Western sanctions, making the junta increasingly dependent on its chief allies, China and Russia, for support.As it continues to lose ground to an array of ethnic and pro-democracy armed groups, the regime has relied heavily on Russian- and Chinese-made aircraft to carry out retaliatory attacks on resistance-held territory.Almost daily airstrikes continue to inflict mass casualties on local civilians, and have contributed to the displacement of more than 3.3 million people since the start of the civil war.

Russia, Belarus send senior military officials to Myanmar to mark Armed Forces Day

The arrival of two high-level delegations in Naypyitaw comes amid a flurry of activity between the regime and two of its closest allies

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