Myanmar’s military regime last week opened a consulate in Belarus, the latest move to promote closer diplomatic relations with a country that is one of the junta’s arms providers as well as one of the few states globally seeking closer ties with North Korea.
The consulate in Minsk is the latest of 18 Myanmar has opened around the world. Last year, Belarus appointed an ambassador to Myanmar. Regime Foreign Minister Than Swe, Deputy foreign Minister of Belarus Evgeny Shestakov, officials from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, diplomats, and Myanmar scholars in Minsk attended the opening reception of the consulate general on September 15, according to a junta’s press release.
Prior to his visit to Minsk, Than Swe visited Russia where he met his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. The regime has already opened consulates in St Petersburg and Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city.
Russia and Belarus are major arms suppliers to the Myanmar regime. Washington sanctioned three Myanmar nationals in October last year for brokering Russian arms via Belarus.
Russia has always been supportive of the regime at the United Nations and Belarus also refused to condemn the regime’s coup at the UN.
During his meeting with Sergey Lavrov, Than Swe thanked Russia for its support at the UN.
Than Swe also met with Belarus Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik on September 15 to discuss bilateral trade as well as economic, scientific and technical, and educational and cultural cooperation. Aleinik welcomed the opening of Myanmar consulate general in Minsk while Than Swe expressed his appreciation to Belarus for its support at the UN.
Myanmar regime boss Min Aung Hlaing visited Belarus in 2004 to meet with President Alexander Lukashenko, who has run the former republic with an iron fist since 1994.
Myanmar’s junta supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Belarus allowed Russian troops to cross its border into Ukraine during the war.
Both the European Union and the United States have imposed a raft of sanctions on businesspeople, politicians and state-owned enterprises in Belarus for alleged electoral fraud and complicity in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lukashenko this week called for an alliance between Russia, North Korea and Belarus.
