Myanmar junta deepening ties with Russia as major software contract awarded to sanctioned group: JFM

Mizzima

The US and Canadian sanctioned Russian entity Astra Group has been contracted by the Myanmar junta to build a National Single Window, an online system that would process all of Myanmar’s import and export paperwork through a single portal, according to Justice for Myanmar (JFM) 17 August.

The portal would link the ministries and agencies that license and clear trade and are illegally under junta control.

This news comes as Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing is visiting Russia on an official visit.

The Single Window is being backed by the Russian regime through its Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Economic Development, and through its embassy and trade mission in Myanmar, says JFM.

According to Astra Group’s press release, the platform is designed so that “new state digital services” can be rolled out on the same architecture in the future. This poses the risk that Astra Group may end up playing a much bigger role in the junta’s digital dictatorship beyond the Single Window.