Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Myanmar’s military junta chief on Tuesday predicted Russia’s eventual victory over Ukraine in the three year-long war.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who flew to Moscow on Monday, thanked Putin for delivering six fighter jets to the junta, which has been embroiled in a civil war of its own ever since it ousted a civilian government in a February 2021 coup.
Russia has been a steady supplier of weapons to the military.
“I believe that victory must be yours under your strong and decisive leadership,” Min Aung Hlaing told Putin, according to Agence France-Presse.
Putin in turn expressed thanks for a gift of six elephants marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations, Russian media reported.
Military analysts have dubbed the present as part of “elephant diplomacy” between the two governments that have faced diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions.
“Relations between our countries are indeed developing steadily,” he said, noting bilateral trade rose 40% last year, Reuters reported.
“And of course, I cannot but thank you for your very warm gift: You brought us six elephants last year, and they have already been given to the Moscow Zoo,” Putin said, according to Reuters.
Trade amid sanctions
It was Min Aung Hlaing’s fourth visit to Russia since the coup, but his first official visit with the Russian president.
Video from Russian media showed a hug between the two leaders as they greeted one another. Seven other junta officials can be seen seated at Min Aung Hlaing’s side.
Putin first met the junta leader in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Myanmar’s junta has also faced sanctions and widespread condemnation and has defended Russia’s actions since the invasion.
“Despite the illegitimate sanctions against Russia and Myanmar, our trade and economic cooperation is developing successfully, and mutual trade is growing,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said during an earlier meeting with junta officials, according to the Interfax news agency.
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This week’s visit was scheduled after the junta approved Russian investment in the Dawei port and industrial trade zone on the Andaman Sea in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region
The Dawei port project stalled in 2013 after it failed to attract enough investment.
Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development said on Feb. 23 that Russian investment in the revived project will go toward port construction, a coal-fired power plant and an oil refinery.
The two sides also agreed to build a small nuclear plant in Myanmar, Reuters reported. Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear power corporation, said the plant would have a capacity of 100 megawatts with the possibility of tripling that capacity.
Edited by Malcolm Foster.