Burma’s junta leader will travel to Russia next week for economic talks, state media in the Southeast Asian country said on Saturday. Min Aung Hlaing will attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, The Global New Light reported. China, India, Japan and Kazakhstan will also have representatives there.
The general will meet with Russian government officials to “further strengthen cooperationand the friendly ties between the economies and governments of the two countries, the official media said. The Burmese official’s visit comes as the two governments are diplomatically isolated: Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine, Naypyidaw for its military coup last year.
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Since a putsch overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, Burma has faced Western sanctions and a deterioration in its diplomatic relations. Min Aung Hlaing is not expected to be invited to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders’ summit being held in Phnom Penh in November, as its members are unhappy with the lack of progress in the resolution of the Burmese political crisis.
The putsch plunged the country into chaos. Nearly 2,100 civilians were killed by security forces and more than 15,000 arrested, according to a local NGO. Since February and the invasion of Ukraine, Burma’s ruling generals have sought to strengthen their ties with Moscow, their main ally and arms supplier, declaring that Russian military operations in Ukraine are “justified“.
The head of the junta went to “private visitin Moscow in July, where he reportedly met with officials from the nuclear sector and the Russian space agency Roscosmos. His deputy also visited Russia in August. During a trip to Naypyidaw in early August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he supported the junta’s efforts to “stabilizeยป the country and organize a national election next year. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for his part, called on the international community not to support the project of “simulacrumNaypyidaw Electoral.
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