Russia’s atomic embrace tightens
A junta military delegation led by Brigadier General Myo Sett Aung has arrived in Russia to participate in the Victory Day parade, which marks the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s WWII victory over Nazi Germany on May 9.
The delegation left Myanmar on Wednesday amid reports that junta boss Min Aung Hlaing will attend the event in person, following an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin during his official visit to Moscow in early March. The regime is yet to announce whether the internationally shunned junta boss will grace the event with his presence.
The annual Red Square parade has become a show of Russia’s military might and defiance amid mounting international pressure since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Min Aung Hlaing has visited key ally Russia four times since his 2021 coup, but March marked his first official visit, signaling a new chapter in relations between the two regimes. Russia has attended the Myanmar military’s annual Armed Forces Day every year, while diplomats from many other countries have shunned it since the putsch.
Russia has been supplying Myanmar’s military with weapons and training since long before the coup. But bilateral ties have advanced in leaps and bounds since 2021, with the two countries expanding cooperation to sectors that include even education and religion.
Outside of training and arming junta troops responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in resistance-held areas over the past four years, Russia’s greatest threat to Myanmar’s people is perhaps its nuclear collaboration with the regime.
That danger rose sharply this week when Moscow declared it would press ahead with its plan to build Myanmar’s first nuclear power plant near Naypyitaw, a city partially flattened by the March 28 earthquake. The administrative capital lies along the Sagaing fault, which triggered last month’s devastating earthquake, making it vulnerable to future seismic disasters.
Veneer of normalcy cracks in capital
Junta newspapers are doing their best to project a “business as usual” image in quake-hit Naypyitaw following the end of Thingyan New Year holidays on Monday. Civil servants have returned to work in the administrative capital with “fresh minds, fresh spirits and fresh strength,” regime media claimed as offices reopened on Tuesday.
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has ordered his ministers to ensure all staff return to work and ministries resume normal operations.
The reality could not be more different.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake wrecked government buildings and decimated staff housing, killing hundreds including government workers and their family members.
Displaced from their homes and forced to live in makeshift shelters along roadsides, they are now enduring scorching heat, difficulty accessing clean water and sanitation, and power outages. Fear of venomous creatures and other natural hazards is adding to their daily hardship. Expecting them to work with “fresh minds” under these circumstances is a ridiculous notion.
Meanwhile, with barely one month before monsoon season, the regime has only just begun clearing land for temporary shelters. Employees now face increasing anxiety as they brace for the torrential rain and strong winds.
Pope condolence message bombs
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing faces accusations of hypocrisy after sending fulsome condolences on the death of Pope Francis on Tuesday.
The parallel National Unity Government on Wednesday pointed out that the junta’s air raids have destroyed more than 300 religious buildings, including Christian churches in Sagaing Region, Karenni, and Chin states.
Three of the churches were destroyed in air raids over the last three weeks. Read more
Quake-hit students ordered back to exam halls
More than 60,000 high school students in Myanmar have been told they must retake their matriculation exams after their answer papers were destroyed in a March 28 earthquake fire at Mandalay University.
Nearly 380,000 answer papers from around 63,000 students from the Mandalay and Sagaing regions and Kachin State were incinerated at Mandalay University, the regime reported.
The regime’s Education Ministry on Tuesday said the exams would be held again in Sagaing, Mandalay and Naypyitaw in June.
The regional education offices would announce the lists of students affected, the ministry said. Read more
Mandalay victims face power bill demand
The regime has reminded Mandalay residents whose homes were damaged in the March 28 earthquake that they still need to pay their electricity bills.
Power in Myanmar’s second-largest city was restored about a week after the earthquake.
Notices that have since been distributed in affected neighborhoods tell households with undamaged electricity meters to pay their March electricity bill as usual. For homes that suffered damage, the March and April electricity bills will be collected together in May. Read more
Naypyitaw reconstruction focused on ‘small buildings’
Myanmar’s military regime plans to redesign Naypyitaw after the March 28 earthquake wrecked government buildings, staff apartments and infrastructure in the administrative capital.
During an April 18 regime cabinet meeting, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing announced plans for soil tests as part of reconstruction of buildings in less earthquake-prone areas. He boasted that staff housing would be rebuilt to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8.
The same day saw Min Aung Hlaing and his deputy Soe Win inspect severely damaged government offices, including the Union Supreme Court, ministries of labor, legal affairs, finance and planning, and the Social Security Board. The junta boss proposed that instead of constructing large single buildings, smaller, modular structures should be built to improve earthquake resistance. Read more
Airstrikes make mockery of ASEAN truce call
Myanmar’s regime airstrikes have targeted resistance-held areas, killing many civilians shortly after Malaysia, ASEAN’s chair, called for a ceasefire.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim urged junta boss Min Aung Hlaing to respect his post-earthquake ceasefire in talks in Bangkok on Thursday.
A regime fighter jet from Meiktila airbase dropped a 300lb bomb on Lake Kya village in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region, on Friday morning, killing 13 civilians and injuring three others, according to Pyin Oo Lwin District People’s Defense Force (PDF). Read more
