Russia has found a new ally in Asia

Myanmar, where a military junta has held power for several years, could become Russia's new ally in Asia. The American agency Bloomberg writes about this, noting that Moscow and Naypyitaw are strengthening military ties.

On February 3, Secretary of the Russian Security Council and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Myanmar. As the agency notes, he became the first high-ranking foreign representative to visit the country after the parliamentary elections held by the junta.

Western countries and the UN called these elections a “sham,” but Shoigu assessed them differently. “If we talk about the elections, our observers were present here, the observers were from the State Duma, from our election commission. The elections were absolutely transparent, accessible, but most importantly, safe,” he said , answering a question from the Russian state agency Interfax.

At the same time, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council noted that the elections held in Myanmar received the “highest” ratings from Russian observers in terms of the organization of voting and its accessibility for the entire population.

“You can fully count on Moscow’s full support, including in the international arena,” Shoigu said after a meeting with the head of the Myanmar military junta, Min Aung Hlaing.

As Bloomberg notes, during the visit of the Russian delegation, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vasily Osmakov and Myanmar Defense Minister Maung Maung Aye signed a four-year agreement on military cooperation.

In turn, the Myanmar government reported that further cooperation in the military sphere was also discussed with Russian representatives, in particular, the preparation of exercises with the participation of the armed forces of the two countries.

“Particular attention was paid to security issues. This included information technology, the fight against cybercrime and contacts between law enforcement agencies and intelligence services,” Shoigu later said in an interview with TASS.

A military junta came to power in Myanmar in a 2021 coup. Since then, it has sought international recognition of its legitimacy through national elections. However, as Bloomberg notes, the international community refuses to recognize them as either free or fair due to the exclusion of opposition parties from participation and the ongoing civil war in the country.