Following the illegal military coup in 2021, military cooperation between the Myanmar military council and the Belarusian government has significantly increased. According to leaked correspondence between Myanmar military council and Belarusian officials, Belarus has transferred a specially designed air defense command system to the Myanmar military council, as reported by Justice For Myanmar (JFM). The military council is using its air defense forces to shoot down drones being used by revolutionary forces across the country.
Based on a letter dated August 12, 2020, from Igor Demidenko, First Deputy Minister of the State Authority for Military Industry (SAMI) of Belarus, to Deputy Chief of Air Defense Major General Tin Maung Win, it was revealed that Tin Maung Win had made a trip to Belarus in 2020. Tin Maung Win had previously visited Belarus in December 2018 and attended demonstrations of Belarus’s air defense systems. Similarly, according to a second letter dated January 10, 2022, from Belarus’s state-owned foreign trade company Belspetsvneshtechnika (BSVT) to Lieutenant General Aung Lin Htun, former Deputy Minister of Defense of the military council, at least three agreements between Belarus and the Myanmar military council were being implemented.
Based on contracts signed with dates in August 2019 and June 2021, the military equipment sold by Belarus to the Myanmar military council includes the Myanmar Air Defence Operational Command (MADOC), V3D/ADF three-dimensional radar system, and GMS-II/ADF ground-based missile system. The cooperation extends beyond equipment sales to include training of military production personnel, with Myanmar military council students studying at Belarusian universities, particularly focusing on radio electronics engineering at the military department of the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (BSUIR).
