Myanmar hires American lobbyist Roger Stone; Aung San Suu Kyi lawyers deny meeting in Naypyidaw

Myanmar hires American lobbyist Roger Stone

The regime’s Ministry of Information reportedly hired veteran American political lobbyist Roger Stone to rebuild relations with the Trump administration in Washington, DC. According to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act filings in April, Stone is being paid $50,000 USD per month as a consultant for the U.S.-based lobbying firm DCI Group, which signed a $3 million USD contract with Burma in July 2025.

Zar Li Aye, a human rights lawyer from Myanmar, told DVB that Naypyidaw seeks international legitimacy following elections won by the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in January. Hla Swe, a USDP Member of Parliament elected to the Pyitthu Hulttaw representing Naypyidaw’s Pobbathiri Township, told DVB that the new USDP administration wants to have U.S. sanctions lifted.

A contract signed last year for McKeon Group to lobby Washington for $60,000 USD was set to expire in February. In 2021, Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe’s company Dickens & Madson Canada reportedly signed a $2 million USD contract to lobby Washington. But he later announced he was stopping his lobbying efforts due to international sanctions preventing him from receiving payment.

Read our latest DVB English News op-ed: Relief, confusion, and the Myanmar military’s new political theatre.

Aung San Suu Kyi lawyers deny meeting in Naypyidaw

The legal team representing jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has firmly denied reports that they met with the 80-year-old leader following her recent transfer from Naypyidaw Prison to an undisclosed location for house arrest by the regime.

Dismissing a Friday report by Reuters that claimed a meeting was scheduled for May 3, an attorney from her four-member legal team told DVB that no such visit took place. “We haven’t asked [the regime] to meet her after she was moved to house arrest,” the attorney said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A source close to Naypyidaw Prison confirmed to DVB that while the legal team is permitted to send care packages to Aung San Suu Kyi every Sunday, they have been completely barred from meeting with her in person since 2023. Aung San Suu Kyi’s son Kim Aris has not spoken to his mother in five years and has only received a letter. Read more