Myanmar regime leader Min Aung Hlaing laid wreath at the Tomb of unknown soldier near Kremlin wall in Moscow today during his official visit to Russia.

This is his first official visit to the country since he was inaugurated president in April. Later today he is scheduled to meet the Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral relations and international issues.

Min Aung Hlaing is the subject of a raft of Western sanctions and has been on a quest for international legitimacy since being inaugurated Myanmar’s president, which came after an election dominated by an army-backed party in the absence of a viable opposition.

He has now made four visits to Russia as regime leader following the 2021 military coup. He visited once in 2021, twice in 2022 and again in March 2025 when he held formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Russia is hoping to open up opportunities in Myanmar for its energy companies. Naypyidaw and Moscow signed an agreement to construct a small-scale nuclear power plant in Myanmar when the two met in 2025.

Russia and Myanmar signed a memorandum on investment cooperation for the strategically located Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in February 2025, including the construction of a port and an oil refinery.

Min Aung Hlaing’s latest trip includes a Myanmar-Russia business forum. Joining him will be the regime’s chief minister of the Tanintharyi region, where Dawei is located, and the head of Myanmar’s aerospace agency, regime media reported.

Defense ties have grown in recent years with Moscow providing army training and university scholarships to thousands of Myanmar soldiers, as well as selling arms to a military blacklisted by some Western countries.

Russia also earlier this year said it would help to train Myanmar’s first cosmonaut.

REUTERS