Military Regime Leaders Meet With Senior Defense Ministry Officials, Myanmar And Russia Agree To Increase Military-Technical Cooperation

JAKARTA - Russia, and Myanmar have again underlined plans to strengthen cooperation and military technicalities of the two countries, the Defense Ministry said after military regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing visited Monday.

"On July 11, senior officials of the Russian Ministry of Defense held a meeting with the Chairman of the Myanmar State Administration Council and the Supreme Commander of the Myanmar Defense Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who arrived in Russia on a personal visit", the ministry said, citing TASS on July 13.

"The parties positively value the mutually beneficial relationship that is developing dynamically in the military field and reaffirm their plans to maximally use the existing potential to strengthen military and military-technical cooperation in the spirit of strategic partnership", the official said, adding the meeting was held in a traditional friendly atmosphere.

It is known, that Russia is one of the few countries that maintain contact and cooperation with the military regime of Myanmar, after the coup on February 1 last year.

Despite the criticism, Russia has maintained ties to the military regime. Last year, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Alexander Fomin at the Commemoration of the Myanmar Armed Forces Day in March 2021.

Russia, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that sanctions imposed by various parties against the Myanmar military regime related to the coup would be futile, very dangerous, and encourage civil war.

Still last year, after successfully buying Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, Myanmar also reached an agreement to purchase the Pantsir S-1 Missile Defense System. Last June, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing visited Russia for an international security conference in Moscow.

Myanmar is our time-tested strategic partner and reliable ally in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific Region. Cooperation in the military and military-technical fields is an important part of the whole complex of Russia-Myanmar relations", Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

It is known, that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia strongly supports ASEAN's diplomatic efforts to end the crisis while visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Jakarta.