Published: April 15, 2026 22:24
Time to read: 2min – video: 2min
Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar has descended into civil war. Amid bloody repression, youth in revolt, and support from foreign powers, the country is fractured. Why are these young people risking their lives for democracy? And what role do China and Russia play?
5 years of civil war, 90,000 dead, and 3.5 million displaced. Myanmar is a military dictatorship where the struggle for freedom has turned into a civil war fueled by foreign powers. Here are three key points to understand:
His name is Min Aung Hlaing: He is a military man and has been in power since orchestrating the coup in 2021. He is also the one who imprisoned the country’s government leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, five years ago. She had won the elections, unacceptable to the army, which claimed fraud and seized power.
The people are massing for democracy and freedom, but the repression is brutal. The junta pursues a policy of terror. Summary executions, massacres, justified as anti-terrorist operations, according to them. The youth leave the city and take up arms. It’s the beginning of a civil war, as our second key point: On the country’s map, there are two factions: the young rebels and the military junta. However, the opposition is fragmented into several armed ethnic groups. They struggle to unite politically, but they share a common hatred of the junta and thirst for democracy. Enough to challenge the army, but not enough to overthrow it.
Because our third key point is that the junta receives support from foreign powers: It can rely on China and Russia to sell them weapons, in particular. Since 2021, Moscow has been its top supplier: $406 million worth of arms sold, ahead of China with $267 million. The rebels, on the other hand, have little support. Perhaps that’s why they struggle to capture cities and strategic locations.
