A week before coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s recent trip to Moscow, a 20-member Russian delegation made a secret visit to Myanmar, according to documents seen by Myanmar Now.
The purpose of the visit, which took place from June 13 to 19, was unclear, but it appeared to be related to naval affairs, as it was led by the deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Vice-Admiral Vladimir Lvovich Kasatonov.
Nine members of the group, including the vice-admiral, visited the capital Naypyitaw for one night to meet with Myanmar navy counterparts, the documents showed.
The visit, which was not reported by state media in either country, also included Rear Admiral Vladimir Ivanovich Zemskov and at least one representative of Russian state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport.
Alexander Basov, the exporter’s representative, was one of the nine people who visited Naypyitaw.
The company, which has a branch office in Myanmar, is “Russia’s only state-controlled intermediary in the area of exports and imports of the entire range of military and double-purpose products, technologies and services,” according to its website.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces, spent a week in Russia from June 20. It was his second trip abroad since seizing power on February 1, and the seventh throughout his military career.
The visit took place just days after the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding an end to the military’s violence against civilians and calling for a halt of weapons exports to Myanmar.
The resolution was supported by 119 countries, with only Belarus voting against it. Another 36 countries abstained, including Russia and China.
Min Aung Hlaing was accompanied on his Moscow visit by army chief of staff Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun and chief of military security affairs Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, who are both members of the ruling military council, as well as Admiral Moe Aung of the Myanmar Navy.
During his trip, Min Aung Hlaing took part in the Moscow Conference on International Security, met senior Russian military officials, including defence minister Gen Sergey Shoigu, and visited military training schools and the headquarters of Rosoboronexport.
Admiral Moe Aung and other naval officers met with Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, and discussed bilateral naval cooperation and training, Myanmar junta’s state-owned media reported.
The naval delegation also attended the international Maritime Defence Show, held in St. Petersburg from June 23-27, on two consecutive days, viewing “submarines, frigates, corvettes, patrol vessels, including other types of ships,” according to the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.
Min Aung Hlaing also visited the more than 100-year-old Kazan Higher Tank Red Banner Command School in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, the newspaper reported.
The military chief also thanked Sergey Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, for his country’s support of Myanmar’s armed forces.
“Thanks to Russia, our army has become one of the strongest in the region,” Min Aung Hlaing said, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Shoigu said Myanmar is “a time-tested strategic partner and reliable ally” and military cooperation is “an important component” of the relations between the two countries.
Defence ties between Russia and Myanmar have grown in recent years, with Russia providing army training and university scholarships to over 7,000 military officers, as well as selling arms to a military blacklisted by Western countries.
The close ties were highlighted by Shoigu’s visit to Naypyitaw in late January, just a week before the February 1 coup. During his visit, the two countries signed a contract for the purchase of Russian Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, Orlan-10E reconnaissance drones and radar facilities.
Following that agreement, the Myanmar army imported $14.7 million worth of radar equipment in February, the Moscow Times reported in April.
Russia will also deliver six Su-30 fighter jets, which would be the most advanced and main combat aircraft of the Myanmar army, within this year.
According to the Stockholm International Research Peace Institute, Myanmar bought $1.5 billion worth of military hardware from Russia between 1999 and 2018, accounting for 39% of its total arms imports during that period.
A Russian defence ministry official spoke about an agreement for more than $200 million worth of fighter jets in January 2018.
During the Russian defence minister’s 2018 visit to Myanmar, the two countries reached an agreement on the entry of Russian warships into Myanmar ports. Following the agreement, the Russian naval ship Perekop docked at the Thilawa Port in Yangon in November 2019.
Commenting on the relationship between the two countries, journalist Bertil Lintner, a long-time observer of Myanmar affairs, remarked that Russia had “put all their eggs in one basket, the military.”
Russia has embraced the Myanmar military not only because it is a big buyer of Russian military hardware, he said, but also because it wants to set an example in Myanmar as Russia strives to disrupt Western efforts to promote democracy in Asia and elsewhere.
Myanmar’s other chief ally, China, has taken a different approach, he said. Besides providing support, Beijing also wields a stick, in the form of backing for ethnic armed groups opposed to the military, especially the United Wa State Army (UWSA), to ensure that its interests in the country are protected.
“China’s policy can be characterized as ‘carrot and stick’: the carrot is business, trade and support at the UN’s Security Council; the stick is the UWSA and its armed rebel allies,” Lintner told Asia Times.
“If China doesn’t get what it wants, the UWSA will get more weapons, not to fight the Myanmar military but as a show of force and to make sure that an offensive against the UWSA would be too costly,” he added.
