Russia’s Economic Interests in Myanmar

Below is an excerpt from a blog post on YaleGlobal explaining the trade and security interests of China, Russia, and India in Myanmar which has prevented international action in support of the pro-democracy protests:

Russia has also supplied Burma with military hardware. In late 2002, Burma purchased eight MiG-29B-12 air-superiority combat aircraft and two dual-seat MiG-29UB trainers from Russia, at a cost of about $130 million, and the nation negotiates to purchase Russian air-defense systems. In May, Russia signed a deal to build a 10-megawatt nuclear-research reactor in Burma – and Russia, like China and India, shows interest in energy cooperation with Burma. Hardly surprisingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 28 that although he was “sorry about civilian deaths” in Rangoon, it was “premature” to speak about sanctions.

See Bob Amsterdam’s earlier post on Russia and Burma.