From a shareholder in a US-sanctioned, Myanmar military-owned telecom to a jet fuel importer to a hotelier close to the Myanmar junta chief’s family, nearly 20 cronies and businesspeople joined regime boss Min Aung Hlaing’s Russia trip this week, helping deepen the economic ties between the two autocratic states.
Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Moscow on Monday upon the invitation of the Russian president. During the visit, Myanmar and Russia signed 10 agreements to cooperate in various sectors, including trade, banking, mining, information technology, tourism and energy. Among these agreements were plans to construct a 110-megawatt nuclear reactor and to cooperate on the development of renewable energy projects.
The business delegation met with Russian officials and businesspeople and attended the Russia-Myanmar Business Forum held on March 5 in Moscow.
Out of nearly 20 businesspeople in the delegation, The Irrawaddy has identified at least nine based on sources familiar with the trip and media reports. The lineup suggests the emergence of a number of new cronies under Min Aung Hlaing’s regime.
They include Mya Han, a key shareholder in Myanmar military-owned telecom Mytel; Aung Aung Zaw, a key business partner of the junta and the owner of Myanmar Airways International (MAI), one of whose airplanes flew Min Aung Hlaing to Russia.
Aung Myo Min Din, a hotelier with close ties to junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s family; and Zeya Thura Mon, CEO of RGK+Z&A Group of Companies, which is in partnership with the Russian state-owned energy firm Rosatom to implement a wind power project in Myanmar, are also among the delegation. The Myanmar junta chief’s son Aung Pyae Sone, whose business interests in Myanmar include solar power plant projects, reportedly also joined the delegation.
Furthermore, Kyaw Win, the founder of Skynet media, Shwe Bank and real estate conglomerate Shwe Than Lwin Group; and at least four representatives of Myanmar’s largest business lobby group the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) are also on board.
The four are Aye Win, the UMFCCI president; Khine Khine Nwe, the general secretary of the UMFCCI; Nang Calyar Win, a senior federation member and CEO of pro-junta Asian Fame Media Group; and federation member Nyi Nyi Lwin. Some 64 senior members of the UMFCCI have been blacklisted by Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government since last year for their engagements with the regime.
Possible beneficiaries?
During the Russia-Myanmar Business Forum, Aung Aung Zaw made a presentation on Myanmar’s tourism sector. He is the chairman of 24 Hour Group of Companies, which currently operates Mingalar (previously known as Air KBZ) and MAI.
MAI is a key business partner of the military junta. MAI and the Myanmar Air Force have shared aircraft and the junta leadership use an MAI-branded aircraft for their international travel. Both airlines were previously owned by Aung Ko Win, an arch-crony and owner of the KBZ Group of Companies.
Apart from aviation, the group operates in mining, palm oil plantations, electrical power projects, and construction. According to its website, the group founded 24 Petroleum Limited in 2021 to import and distribute fuel, including jet fuel, to Myanmar. He is among those accused of providing jet fuel to the junta, which has been launching deadly airstrikes against civilians in Myanmar.
In a statement released by Kremlin following the meeting between Min Aung Hlaing and Putin on March 4, the Russian president said energy constitutes a strategic area of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. “Last year, over 90 percent of oil on the Myanmar market originated from our country,” he said.
Analysts said Aung Aung Zaw could be among the beneficiaries from these import deals and will surely secure more during the trip.
At the forum, Mya Han explained Myanmar’s agriculture and livestock sector, as he is the chairman of the Myanmar Livestock Federation. But he is better known as a key shareholder and director in Myanmar National Tele & Communications Co. Ltd., better known by its acronym Mytel—a joint venture between Star High Co., owned by the Myanmar military, and Viettel Global, controlled by the Vietnamese military. In January, the US Department of Commerce sanctioned Mytel for providing surveillance and financial support to the junta.
Given his role at Mytel, Mya Han’s presentation on the country’s agriculture and livestock sector at the forum was not the area of primary interest for observers at home. They said an MoU on Information Technology and Communication signed between Myanmar and Russia could be of more interest to him and more profitable for the telecom’s director.
Also among the delegation are a couple of high-ranking foreign officials from Myanmar private banks. They talked with officials from Russia’s banking sector, focusing on expanding the Mir payment system, a card-payment system for electronic-fund transfers established by the Central Bank of Russia, in Myanmar.
The regime said in 2023 that it would accept Mir. Last month, the central banks of Russia and Myanmar discussed the prospect of expanding the number of acceptance points for Mir cards in Myanmar and the possibility of mutual opening of direct accounts for companies in the two countries’ banks.
Business sources said Kyaw Win of Shwe Than Lwin Group did not travel with Min Aung Hlaing’s delegation. Instead, he arrived in Moscow a few days before the junta leader’s arrival and, along with other businesspeople, arranged the plans, meetings, and business forum in advance. He may be involved in the Mir payment system, but it is unclear what other deals he has secured as a result of the bilateral agreements between the two countries.
Aligning with the junta’s promotion of the tourism sector, cronies such as Aung Myo Min Din, the founder of Amazing Hotels & Resorts Group, might also have promoted his hotels and resorts to attract more revenue from Russian tourists.
Amazing Hotels & Resorts has emerged as the most successful hotelier in Myanmar’s hospitality industry since coup leader Min Aung Hlaing became the military chief in 2011. He is also known as a former student of the junta chief’s wife, Daw Kyu Kyu Hla, who used to be a teacher.
Given his existing connection with Russian state-owned energy firm Rosatom, Zeya Thura Mon of RGK+Z&A Group was tipped by analysts as a possible beneficiary of renewable energy project deals signed during the Russia trip. In 2023 he signed an MOU with Rosatom to develop non-energy nuclear technologies in Myanmar, specifically for processing products using ionizing radiation.
Another possible beneficiary of the trip is Min Aung Hlaing’s son Aung Pyae Sone, most likely from the renewable energy deals his father struck in Moscow.
He holds shares in Venus Essential Co., which was awarded contracts to implement three solar power projects with a combined capacity of 390 megawatts, with no other companies invited to bid, in 2022, one year after his father grabbed power through a military coup.
The following year, another of his companies, Golden Future Linkage, proposed building a 40-megawatt solar power plant on a 230-acre plot of land in Mandalay Region’s Thazi Township, in partnership with the Chinese firm China Energy Engineering Corporation Ltd (CEEC).
Business insiders say Aung Pyae Sone is trying to establish a foothold in the solar energy market in Myanmar, which is growing due to heavy promotion from the regime amid chronic blackouts in the country.
