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Bilateral relations with the Russian Federation (Russian: Российско-мьянманские отношения) are the strongest enjoyed by largely isolated Myanmar. Russia had established diplomatic relations with Myanmar, when it became independent and it remained even today after the fall of the Soviet Union. China and Russia once vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution designed to punish Myanmar. In recent years, China has shown a lack of willingness to back the Myanmar government and has attempted to stabilize the political situation in Myanmar.
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Military cooperation
Military cooperation between the two countries is very deep, ever since the Cold War when the Soviet Union armed the Myanmarese Military as a counter-weight to US and Chinese influence in the region. Between 1957 and 1991, the Soviet Union sold almost 2,000 Main Battle Tanks, 4,000 field Artillery howitzers, 2 Submarines, 6 Missile Boats and 3 Navy Frigates to the Myanmarese Military. In 1964, the first batch of Myanmar military pilots were trained in by the Soviet Air Force on the MiG-19 and the MiG-21, and soon after the USSR delivered 12 MiG-21s and 16 MiG-19s as a gift to the Myanmar Air Force. In 1981, Soviet experts helped set up large parts of the indigenous Myanmarese Defense Industry, helping Myanmar to completely license-manufacture 60% of its weapons platforms and 90% of its ammunition requirements at State-owned factories. The Soviet weapons platforms license-manufactured by Myanmar since 1981 include variants of the AK 47 assault rifle and PK machine gun, the DshK heavy machine gun, the ZSU-23-4 Anti-aircraft autocannon, the T-62 and T-72 Tank, and the 122mm and 1300mm howtizers, and all the compatible ammunition for them.
Nuclear cooperation
In 2007 Russia and Myanmar did a controversial nuclear research center deal. According to the press release, "The centre will comprise a 10MW light-water reactor working on 20%-enriched uranium-235, an activation analysis laboratory, a medical isotope production laboratory, silicon doping system, nuclear waste treatment and burial facilities".