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Myanmar junta leader’s Putin fawning shows Russia is his insurance policy
Min Aung Hlaing’s cringeworthy Moscow state visit drew laughs, yet behind the theatrics lies calculations designed to cement the junta’s grip.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) welcomes Myanmar's military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during their meeting at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, on March 4.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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For all the talk of an abhorrent new world order in which small nations are forced to pay obeisance to the powerful, some countries seem happy to bow even before the whip is cracked. Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing gave us a vivid example of this last week during his trip to Russia.
On social media, the diaspora aligned with the junta’s foes in the country’s civil war tore into General Min Aung Hlaing’s seemingly deferential body language – and, more tellingly, the official readouts of what was said in his Kremlin meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
