Description: Following the meet between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Myanmar’s military junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on 04 Mar, Russia’s state – owned Rosatom stated they planned on continuing to develop a nuclear powerplant in Myanmar. After the meeting early last month, Myanmar suffered one of its worst natural disasters when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake leveled cities and left 3,500 dead, which raised concerns over positioning a nuclear plant on its territory. Officials from Rosatom, however, have stated the company upheld the highest standards of safety and strict seismic resistance requirements. The project would undertake the development of SMR (Small Modular Reactor) with initial capacity of 110MW derived from two separate reactors manufactured by Rosatom. The deal emphasized the close strategic ties between the two countries ever since the start of the civil war in Myanmar in 2021.
Impact: The cooperation agreement between Russia and Myanmar’s junta underlines Russia’s interoperability in global affairs despite being involved in a large-scale war in Ukraine. Nuclear powered energy sources represent a significant strategic conditioning exploited by Russia which complements Chinese influence in the region in support of joint strategic efforts in the Indo – Pacific theater. The strengthening of the strategic alliance would enable Russia access to pivotal strategic points such as the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman sea which could be used in order to support allies such as China in operations in the disputed South China sea and the wider Indo – Pacific.