By MPA
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — The Russian Federation and Myanmar’s ruling military junta have launched a highly strategic, 12-day joint military training program targeting elite special operations forces in the junta’s heavily fortified capital of Naypyidaw, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed.
The comprehensive joint deployment, which commenced on 6 July and is scheduled to conclude on 17 July 2026, is currently being staged inside the high-security training grounds of the National Defense University (NDU) in Naypyidaw.
During the formal opening ceremony, Lieutenant General Pyae Sone Linn, the Director-General of the Directorate of Military Training under the military council, delivered a high-profile welcome briefing to the arriving Russian military contingents.
The Lieutenant General explicitly underscored that the intensive tactical drills serve as a powerful symbol designed to cement deeper institutional ties, mutual understanding, and geopolitical trust between the two nations. He added that the joint wargames provide a critical platform for regular forces to systematically exchange valuable, real-world battlefield combat experiences, marking a major progressive leap in bilateral military cooperation which has accelerated rapidly over recent years.
Following the formal opening briefs, elite Russian military personnel executed high-velocity tactical live-fire demonstrations, showcasing advanced individual and crew-served marksmanship skills.
Concurrently, the Russian tactical teams hosted private technical exhibitions, briefing their military council counterparts on the operational deployments, electronic components, and destructive capabilities of Russia’s latest modern conventional weaponry and state-of-the-art military hardware.
Since the illegal February 2021 military coup threw Myanmar into civil war, Vladimir Putin’s administration has consistently operated as the primary, indispensable international ally for the isolated military council, providing heavy diplomatic protection alongside vital shipments of advanced fighter jets, armored hardware, and sophisticated military technology.
Independent geopolitical monitors evaluate that staging this high-intensity, 12-day special forces tactical loop inside the National Defense University grounds serves a dual strategic purpose for the regime:
The intensive training is a desperate attempt by the junta command to rapidly upgrade its sagging battlefield capacities as its standard infantry formations sustain devastating territory losses to highly coordinated resistance coalitions across the country.
The public nature of the drills functions as an overt, defiant statement to Western powers and regional neighbors, demonstrating that despite crushing international sanctions and absolute diplomatic isolation, the military council retains the unyielding, explicit military backing of a global nuclear superpower.
