Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing left for Russia on Monday for his first official visit to the country since assuming the presidency in April, state media reported.

Russia is the fifth country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming president, following official trips to India, China, Laos and Thailand.

The former general is under Western sanctions and has sought international legitimacy since becoming president through a parliamentary vote following an election dominated by an army-backed party in the absence of a viable opposition.

Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia four times as junta chief, first travelling there in June 2021 to attend a security conference, five months after seizing power in a coup. He visited twice in 2022 and again in March 2025, when he held formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Russia is seeking to expand opportunities for its energy companies in Myanmar. The two countries signed an agreement in 2025 to construct a small-scale nuclear power plant in Myanmar during Min Aung Hlaing’s meeting with Putin.

Russia and Myanmar also signed a memorandum on investment cooperation for the strategically located Dawei Special Economic Zone in February 2025, covering the construction of a port and an oil refinery.

Min Aung Hlaing’s latest visit includes a Myanmar-Russia business forum. The chief minister of the Tanintharyi region, where Dawei is located, and the head of Myanmar’s aerospace agency are also accompanying him, according to state media.

Defence ties between the two countries have grown in recent years, with Moscow providing military training and university scholarships to thousands of Myanmar soldiers and supplying arms to the military, which has been blacklisted by some Western countries.

Russia also said earlier this year that it would help train Myanmar’s first cosmonaut.