Russia has begun delivering the first batch of combat jets to the Myanmar military, monitoring group Myanmar Witness said Friday, amid accusations that the junta government has been targeting civilians with air strikes.
According to Russian state media, Myanmar purchased six Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30s under a contract worth around $204 million in 2018, when civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was still in power. The first two jets were delivered in March this year, while additional shipments continue.
Myanmar Witness reported that satellite data, reports from flight spotters, as well as a closed source have “now confidently confirmed” that at least one of the jets has now arrived in Naypyidaw. The group did not clarify whether the jet is in training or has already been flown in active missions.
🚨 Russian Su-30 in Myanmar
— Myanmar Witness (@MyanmarWitness) November 4, 2022
On 17 October 2022, MW investigators recorded what they believe to be the first sighting of a Russian-made Su-30 in Myanmar via satellite imagery.
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👉info@myanmarwitness.org#WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar#Myanmar #Russia pic.twitter.com/hIxAgKkOjo
The military has not commented on the purchase or the number of jets it has received. However, local media has previously reported the arrival of Russian trainers and technicians.
Junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun said in September that coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing had personally inspected the planes’ production and testing at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant during his visit to Russia in the same month. “They all will be delivered soon,” the junta chief said at the time.
According to state media, this is not Myanmar’s first defence purchase from Russia. It has already bought the MiG-29 fighter jets, Yak-130 combat trainers, Mi-17, Mi-24, and Mi-35 combat helicopters, as well as other weapons.
In October, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported that it had also received imagery evidence showing a Russian Kamov KA-29TB assault transport helicopter in operation in the country’s northern Sagaing region. Citing regional intelligence sources, the magazine added that the helicopter appeared to be one of five that the junta government agreed to buy in early 2022.
☑️ Monastery damaged
— Myanmar Witness (@MyanmarWitness) November 1, 2022
☑️ Kawkareik, Kayin
☑️ 16.498816, 98.162554
☑️ 21 October 2022
MW geolocated footage of damage to Kyar Inn monastery after reports of artillery and airstrike use on Kawkareik during a battle between SAC and KNLA forces.#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar pic.twitter.com/AWh6GEkC3b
In February this year, the United Nations’ (UN) Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in which he raised concern about countries continuing to supply arms to Naypyidaw despite substantial evidence of their use in human rights crimes. The UN expert said that the country’s military junta is being supplied with arms from China, Russia, and Serbia. To this end, he called for a UN Security Council meeting on the issue in order to institute a ban on the supply of arms to the military.
In fact, the UN General Assembly has already passed a resolution asking member states to halt the supply of arms to Myanmar; however, Russia and China abstained from voting.
In a sign of growing closeness between the two countries, the Myanmar junta announced plans in August to import Russian oil and gas. To this end, the military government established a Russian Oil Purchasing Committee to oversee the buying, importing, and transport of fuel at affordable prices. According to state media, the committee is headed by “a close ally” of Min Aung Hlaing.
2/2 Among the casualties were four high-ranking officials from the group, as well as artists who were performing at the event, which was held in commemoration of the 62nd anniversary of the KIO’s founding. (Photo: Uru Shagan via Everyday Kachin, Kachin News Group / Facebook)
— Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) October 26, 2022
As a further affirmation of close ties, the junta chief also attended the Moscow Conference for International Security last year in June and met with Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, during which the two sides committed to strengthening security ties.
The junta has been struggling to crush resistance since it seized power from the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government last February. The army has regularly been engaged in fighting with ethnic rebel groups as well as the newer anti-coup “People’s Defence Forces,” the armed wing of the shadow National Unity Government.
Human rights groups have accused the junta of launching air strikes on civilians, among various other war crimes. Last month, the military carried out air strikes on a concert held by a major ethnic rebel group in the north. Rebels claim that the strike killed around 50 people, including civilians. However, the junta denied the claim and dismissed the report to be “rumours.”
While Russia, a major arms supplier, has backed the junta’s rule, Myanmar has reciprocated by describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “justified.”