Myanmar Supports Russian Actions in Ukraine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Myanmar supports Russian actions with respect to Ukraine, including Moscow’s special military operation, and maintains that Russia has the right to defend its national interests, a spokesman for the Myanmar military Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told Sputnik.

"First, in my opinion, in the situation with Ukraine, Russia is taking the necessary actions to preserve and strengthen its own sovereignty. Second, Russia, as a great power, ensures the balance of world forces, which allows maintaining world peace," Zaw Min Tun said.

He expressed hope that Russia will be able to unroot "modern colonialism", pointing out that the US is moving closer to the Russian borders in order to undermine Russia’s sovereignty.

"...the situation around Ukraine is not a problem of the two countries. The President, the government and the people of Russia were obliged to respond to the emerging geopolitical situation in the world, where Ukraine was only one of the links," the spokesperson for the Myanmar military told Sputnik.

He emphasised that the actions of the Russian leadership are aimed at protecting national interests and demonstrate the unity of the Russian people.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian government and the Russian people have demonstrated to the world that they have a broader vision of world political problems, and that Russia can and must protect its national interests and unity," the spokesperson said.

Zaw Min Tun recalled how Western countries had financed opposition forces in Myanmar and said that the current Ukraine crisis was caused by US unwillingness to provide Russia with security guarantees.

"Today, Ukraine fully follows the policy and ideology of the bloc of Western countries. This situation resulted in Russia rightly putting forward its demands for its own security, but we saw that America did not respond to them and continued to act contrary to the fair solution of problems. We are seeing the consequences of this right now," the spokesperson said.

On Thursday, Russia began a special operation to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine, responding to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics for help in countering the aggression of Ukrainian forces.

Moscow has repeatedly said that it has no plans to occupy the Ukrainian territory. However, despite this fact, many foreign countries accused Russia of invading the neighbouring country and violating its territorial integrity, and pledged to provide Kiev with additional military assistance to fight the Russian armed forces.