Myanmar military want to buy Russian nuclear power plants
A first memorandum was signed in July, but a former junta sought Russian (and North Korean) help in the 1990s and 2000s to develop atomic energy. Tuesday, a nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in Vladivostok during General Aung Min Hlaing’s visit. Myanmar will buy Russian oil and pay in roubles.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – While the world focuses on International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors at the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine, Myanmar and Russia, through its state nuclear corporation Rosatom, struck a deal to develop nuclear power in Myanmar.
To this end, a first memorandum of understanding was agreed upon in July, followed by the agreement signed on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, which ends today, in the presence of Myanmar’s strongman, General Aung Min Hlaing, on his second visit to Russia in less than two months.
In a statement, Rosatom states that “the document provides for the expanding of bilateral legal framework, [the] possibility of implementing a small modular reactors project in Myanmar, as well as personnel training and work related to the improvement of public acceptance of nuclear energy in Myanmar.”
Yesterday, state-controlled media in Myanmar noted that cooperation with Rosatom will focus on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, on research, as well as socio-economic development, especially in manufacturing pharmaceuticals and generating electricity.
Nuclear cooperation with Russia, already Myanmar's main arms supplier, dates back to the late 1990s. In 1999, when the country was ruled by another military junta led by General Than Shwe, negotiations began on a nuclear reactor.
In 2002 the military regime reiterated its plan to build a nuclear power plant, and in 2007 Russia agreed to build a nuclear research centre that included, among its various characteristics, a light water reactor working on 20 per cent-enriched U-235.
During that same period, Myanmar appears to have begun working with North Korea to develop its own nuclear programme. In 2008 Shwe Mann, one of the most powerful men in the Myanmar military, travelled to Pyongyang to visit North Korean military facilities and missile factories.
Despite all these activities, Myanmar has not yet started producing nuclear energy. During the country's 10 years of democratic rule, Aung San Suu Kyi, former leader of the National League for Democracy who was deposed by the 2021 army coup d'état, signed agreements with the IAEA in favour of the non-proliferation of nuclear power, including the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 2016.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s civil war rages on. Groups opposed to the military regime – the People's Defence Forces and ethnic militias – claim to control 70 per cent of the western state of Chin.
Recently, the exiled National Unity Government formed by officials from the former civilian administration, says that the resistance has captured key areas in the country. Hence, the end of the conflict still seems far away.
Myanmar has been not been allowed to attend meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for failing to accept the peace plan proposed by the organisation.
Hit by Western sanctions, the regime has moved closer to Russia. Yesterday, during his visit to Russia, General Min Aung Hlaing said that not only would Myanmar buy Russian oil, but it would pay for it in roubles.
.png)
12/02/2016 15:14
18/08/2022 12:36
27/01/2022 14:19
