Myanmar accused of using Russian planes

Myanmar's ruling junta has used Russian-made military aircraft to attack domestic targets in civilian areas, the human rights watchdog Myanmar Witness reported on Friday.

In a new report based on open source intelligence, the London-based NGO verified evidence of "the Myanmar military using Yak-130 jets to fire unguided rockets and 23mm cannon fire in and around civilian-populated areas."

The military seized power in the February 2021 coup, which plunged Myanmar into turmoil, sparking wide-spread protests and armed resistance.

"The indiscriminate employment of sophisticated attack aircraft, particularly when employed in coordination with other military aircraft, is in stark contrast to the means and methods employed by those groups who are viewed as insurgents by the Myanmar military," the report states.

Myanmar Witness analyzed images and footage coming out of the country since the coup and confirmed several incidents in which the Russian attack planes were used.

Indiscriminate fire

Footage posted online earlier this month shows Yak-130 planes launching several salvos of unguided rockets at the ground during an attack in the area south of Myawaddy in June.

Myanmar Witness has been able to geolocate the two videos filmed just a few hundred meters from Myanmar's border with Thailand.

In another incident verified by the group, the junta used several types of aircraft, including the Yak-130, to strike an area near Thay Baw Boe.

The report also contains photographs and pictures of Yak-130 flying several other combat missions.

Myanmar Witness believes that there are likely to be 20 Yak-130 aircraft in the Myanmar Air Force's inventory.

Calls for a global arms embargo against Myanmar

Since the military takeover, Russia has delivered at least six of these planes to Myanmar.

This is despite a resolution of the UN General Assembly adopted in June 2021 calling on member states to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.

"As the violence continues and relations between Myanmar and Russia continue to strengthen ... the use of the Russian-made Yak-130 in civilian areas in Myanmar must continue to be investigated," Myanmar Witness said in its report.

Myanmar Witness also found evidence that at least one batch of rockets that can be used on the Yak-130 was transported to Myanmar from Serbia in February 2022.

It also found that 23mm ammunition, also used by the Yak, may have been manufactured in Serbia in 1989 but said it needs further investigation.

In March, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, found that Myanmar's junta has killed at least 1,600 civilians and displaced more than 500,000 since the coup.

Andrews suggested that the Security Council impose a global arms embargo on the military that "specifically outlaws the sale of those weapons and associated munitions that are killing Myanmar civilians, including jet aircraft."

Myanmar's military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, was in Russia on a private visit two weeks ago. 

Following his visit, Russia's Defense Ministry said the countries were deepening cooperation.

"The meeting ... confirmed the mutual disposition to consistently build up multifaceted cooperation between the military departments of the two countries," the ministry said.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery