Russia will build a Russian Orthodox Church in Myanmar. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the statement during talks with Min Aung Hlaing, the president of Myanmar and formerly the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, who led the military junta that carried out a coup in the republic five years ago.

The report was published by The Moscow Times.

According to Putin, Russian investors are ready to participate in Myanmar’s energy projects, including the construction of a power plant and an oil refinery.

In addition, Putin said that the construction of an Orthodox church is planned in the republic. “Mr President (of Myanmar) told me during our one-on-one meeting that an agreement had been reached to decide on the construction of a Russian Orthodox Church in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city,” Putin said.

As is known, the military junta has ruled Myanmar since 2021. After coming to power, it imposed a state of emergency amid the civil war that had begun, which was lifted only on July 31, 2025. According to the United Nations, as of November 2024, at least 5,350 civilians had been killed in the country since the coup, while more than 3.3 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes.

As LF reported, construction of the Orthodox “Russian-Serbian” church in Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska (Bosnia), has been underway for eight years. The Bosnian Serb authorities are promoting the project as “historic for bilateral relations.” Among the project’s initiators is the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society of Russia, headed by former FSB chief Sergei Stepashin.

As LF reported, construction is also continuing in Astana, Kazakhstan, near the National Space Center, on a large Orthodox church complex and a church that will become the largest Orthodox church in Central Asia. The project has sparked controversy among members of the city maslikhat, the capital’s representative body, who questioned the feasibility of the construction and raised questions about its sources of funding.

Earlier, we reported that a church is being built in Smarhon, Belarus, with money from a Russian propagandist who supports Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.