During his visit to Belarus, military council leader Min Aung Hlaing made erroneous statements about economic sanctions at a press conference, forcing military-owned media outlets to issue corrections. At the press conference held on March 7, Min Aung Hlaing demonstrated his confusion between economic sanctions and computer software, incorrectly claiming that sanctions would lead to increased consolidation of software power. This misstatement revealed his fundamental misunderstanding of both international economic measures and technical terminology.
As a result of this error, military-owned newspapers had to publish corrections on March 9, removing the word ‘software’ from the original statement. Additionally, all television news broadcasts and Telegram videos containing the press conference footage had to be re-edited and modified. The incident highlighted Min Aung Hlaing’s lack of understanding regarding international economic sanctions and technical terminology, as he conflated two entirely different concepts in his public statement.
Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Russia and Belarus took place from March 3 to March 9, during which he met with Russian leader Putin and the President of Belarus. The press conference where he made these erroneous statements resulted in subsequent corrections by military-controlled media outlets, demonstrating the military council’s administrative weaknesses. This incident serves as an example of the military council’s struggle with accurate public communications and understanding of international affairs, particularly in relation to economic sanctions that have been imposed on their regime.
