PRESS RELEASE AUGUST 17, 2026 the US Agency for International Development, and through which member states exchange certificates of origin and customs declaration documents. The junta's award to Astra Group should raise concerns in the bloc about what access a sanctioned Russian group would have to the ASEAN Single Window, and to the customs and trade data that flows through it, if the two systems are connected. War criminal Min Aung Hlaing driving deeper ties with Russia The Single Window project is a priority of Min Aung Hlaing during the first “100 days” of his rebranded junta. The contract was signed ahead of Min Aung Hlaing’s first visit to Russia since the illegal junta’s sham election and signals deepening complicity between the junta and the Kremlin. Russia is one of the junta’s biggest arms suppliers and has supplied fighter jets that are used in the junta’s widening aerial campaign of terror that kills civilians and destroys civilian infrastructure with total impunity. The junta’s airstrikes are intensifying with Russian support. The UN reported that junta airstrikes killed at least 982 civilians in 2025, a 53% increase compared with 2024. It was also the deadliest year for children since the attempted coup. The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar previously reported arms trade from Russia to Myanmar worth US$406 million between February 1, 2021, and December 2022, which included new Su-30 fighter jets and spare parts for MiG-29 fighter jets. The Russian military also conducted the first joint army training exercise with the junta in July 2026 that involved attacking an enemy with assault troops, snipers and drones. By knowingly supplying arms that the junta uses in the commission of international crimes and training junta troops committing atrocities, Russia is aiding and abetting those crimes. Justice For Myanmar condemns Russia’s continued complicity and demands accountability. Governments need to respond to the Kremlin’s attempts to gain a foothold in Southeast Asia through the illegal Myanmar junta, which provides new economic opportunities for sanctioned Russian companies like Astra Group to bypass Western sanctions, and to take a stand against Russian complicity in the junta’s international crimes. Justice For Myanmar calls for the EU, UK and Australia to follow the USA and Canada and sanction Astra Group, for new sanctions against Astra Consulting, and for urgent targeted sanctions against the junta and its suppliers of arms, funds and aviation fuel. 3