Putin boasts of ‘elephant diplomacy’ with Myanmar
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia toasted expanding ties with his ally Myanmar at talks with the head of its military junta on Tuesday and thanked him for sending six elephants to Moscow.
Military experts have called the current moment, which lines up with Russia completing the delivery of six fighter jets to Myanmar, part of the “elephant diplomacy” between two regimes that are looked on with suspicion in Western capitals.
Myanmar has been in chaos since 2021 when its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and plunged the country into civil war.
“This year we mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the declaration on the fundamentals of friendship between our countries,” Putin said, hosting senior general, Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s prime minister, at a meeting in the Kremlin.
“Surely relations between our countries are moving forward at a steady pace,” he added, pointing to bilateral trade, which increased in value by 40 percent last year.
They signed an agreement on the construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Myanmar. The plant would have a capacity of 100 megawatts, with a potential to triple that capacity, said Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear power corporation.
Putin also said a military unit from Myanmar would attend a military parade in Moscow on May 9 to mark the 80th anniversary of the World War II victory over Nazi Germany. He said Min Aung Hlaing would attend.
As with China, Russia supports Myanmar’s military and is fostering cooperation, including between their air forces.
“And, of course, I cannot help but thank you for your very warm gift: you gave us six elephants last year and they have already been transferred to the Moscow Zoo,” Putin said.
Min Aung Hlaing, 68, who infrequently travels abroad, lauded the quality of the Russian military hardware that his country gets. He also said he supported Putin over the Ukraine war and expected that Moscow would soon win.
‘Illegitimate sanctions’
The junta faces an internal revolt, an economy in ruins, famine and a third of the country’s 55 million people in need of aid, the United Nations says.
Russia was among the first nations to support the junta after the 2021 coup as it faced global condemnation for using deadly force against its opponents.
The Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, said he also saw good possibilities for expanding cooperation on agriculture and nuclear energy, as well as transport and infrastructure.
“Despite the illegitimate sanctions that are being imposed against Russia and Myanmar, our trade and economic cooperation is developing positively, mutual trade is growing,” Mishustin said, as reported by the Interfax news agency.
Mishustin did not name the firms, but said that Russian companies planned to invest in Myanmar’s special economic zone in Dawei. The much-delayed Dawei project at the Andaman Sea is meant to be a major hub for industry, technology and transport.
The Dawei project was initiated in 2008 by Myanmar’s former junta, which awarded a 75-year concession to Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD). But ITD eventually failed to secure other investors, and its concession was ultimately terminated in January 2021, just a month ahead of the coup.
The Myanmar junta has an election planned for this year, but critics scorn it as a ruse that aim to allow the generals to maintain power through proxies. Most of the so-called opposition parties have been disqualified on technical grounds.