Agree On Sales With Military Regime, Russia Immediately Sends Pantsir S-1 Missile Defense System To Myanmar

Illustration of Pantsir-S1 Russian alert. (Wikimedia Commons/Jovo Mamula)

JAKARTA - Russia will deliver the Pantsir S-1 missile defense system to Myanmar according to the schedule as outlined in the relevant sales contract, RIA news agency quoted the Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation as saying Wednesday local time.

The truck-mounted weapon system was used to shoot down planes, drones and cruise missiles. Classified as a medium-range weapon, the Pantsir is a surface-to-air and anti-aircraft artillery weapon

Russia says it has long-standing and strategic relations with Myanmar's military regime. The Kremlin believes the authorities are doing all they can to try to stabilize what it calls the situation in Myanmar.

Myanmar and Russia reached an agreement for the Pantsir S-1 system in January, the RIA quoted the Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev as saying.

"We will deliver (the system) according to the terms and conditions set out in the contract," he was quoted as saying.

The sale has also drawn sharp criticism from human rights activists who accuse Moscow of legitimizing Myanmar's military regime, which came to power after a February 1 military coup by continuing bilateral visits and arms deals, the Daily Sabah reported.

In fact, the announcement of this sale is part of the signing of a number of contracts between Russian weapons manufacturers with China, India, Myanmar and a number of other countries at the 2021 Army Forum in Moscow, Russia.

"Among the signatories are our traditional partners, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan and of course, India, China, Myanmar," Dmitry Shugayev told TV channel Zvezda, citing Urdupoint.

"All these joint contracts are worth more than US$2.3 billion or equivalent to Rp33,155,765,000,000," added Shugayev.

Dmitry Shugayev added that until now there is no information whether the Myanmar state is interested in sending additional Pantsir S-1 systems or not. As for information, the 2021 Army Forum takes place from August 22-28