Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Tatmadaw), Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, said Myanmar is grateful to Russia for the fighter jets and attack helicopters.
“Myanmar’s army has received Russian-made fighter jets and attack helicopters, and I would like to express my gratitude to Russia and its Armed Forces for them. The Su-30, a multifunctional, high-performance, fourth-generation fighter jet produced in Russia, is an important type of combat aircraft that will play a key role in strengthening our air capabilities,” the prime minister said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, Tass reported.
Earlier this year, as EurAsian Times reported, the Myanmar Air Force took delivery of its six Su-30 SMEs from Russia. The twin-seater, two-engine fighter jet came as the country reportedly faced issues with its Chinese-made JF-17 jets.
The six Russian jets were acquired under a 2018 contract valued at $400m, financed through a Russian loan. The final two fighter jets were commissioned on December 15, 2024, at Meiktila Air Base in Mandalay.
Lieutenant General Alexander Fomin, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, informed the Russian news agency TASS that these Su-30 jets will serve as Myanmar’s primary aircraft for safeguarding territorial integrity and countering terror threats. The Su-30SMEs are stationed at Naypyidaw Air Base, enabling coverage of the entire country.
Earlier in March this year, President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s developing ties with Myanmar, during a visit by the Asian country’s junta chief to its key ally.
Russia is a crucial arms supplier to the isolated state, which is struggling to quell violent opposition to the junta’s military rule. “The relations between our countries are steadily developing,” Putin told junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in a televised meeting at the Kremlin.
“We have great potential,” he said, hailing growing trade ties. Putin focused on a plan for Russia to help build a small nuclear plant in Myanmar. He said this would supply the country with “cheap and ecologically safe energy” that would boost its economy and create thousands of jobs.
TASS state news agency, citing the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, reported that the two sides on Tuesday signed a memorandum about cooperating on the construction of a plant with a capacity of 110 megawatts that could be increased to 330 megawatts.
In 2023, Russia and Myanmar signed an initial agreement on nuclear cooperation and the possible construction of such a plant.
The head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, told Russian television Tuesday that Myanmar was interested in building a modular station with two reactors near the capital, Naypyidaw.
Both countries are under heavy Western sanctions — Myanmar following the 2021 coup and Russia after its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its ongoing three-year-long offensive on Ukraine.
Russia exports some raw materials and fertilisers to Myanmar, and both sides have discussed deepening economic ties alongside their military and political alliance.
Myanmar last year imported about 90 percent of its oil from Russia, which was a “reliable” supplier, Putin said.
Moscow’s support has become vital to Myanmar’s military — particularly the air force — as it battles an array of ethnic minority armed groups and pro-democracy guerrillas on multiple fronts.
The junta suffered significant territorial losses after a 2023 rebel offensive, but its air power has been pivotal to arresting the advance of opposition forces.
Russia has sought to boost relations with anti-Western governments, particularly in Asia and Africa, since ordering troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Myanmar Junta Chief Meets China’s Xi For 1st Time
Myanmar’s junta chief met China’s president for the first time since seizing power, state media reported Saturday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader.
He also thanked China “for its support of Myanmar’s stance on regional and international fronts.”
Chinese state media Xinhua news reported that Xi expressed his country’s support for Myanmar pursuing development “suited to its national conditions, safeguarding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national stability, and steadily advancing its domestic political agenda”.
Xi said he hoped Myanmar would take “concrete measures to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Myanmar, and intensify efforts to combat cross-border crimes”.
More than 6,600 people have been killed since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, and millions have been displaced.
Concerned about the violence on its doorstep destabilising regional peace and its economic ambitions, China has reportedly mediated talks between Myanmar’s junta and key rebel groups.
China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.
Beijing has long been eyeing Myanmar’s resource-rich northern Shan state — now under rebel control — for infrastructure investment under its trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
While Min Aung Hlaing’s Friday meeting with Xi was his first time in his role as junta chief, the general had previously met the Chinese leader in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, in January 2020, a year before seizing power.
With Inputs from Agence France-Presse
