<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Myanmar on Wednesday for meetings with the conflict-wracked country's junta leaders, his ministry said.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>As Moscow's ties with the West unravel over the intervention in Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to pivot the country towards the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.</div><div><br></div><div>"Talks are planned with the foreign minister and with the Myanmar leadership," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Tuesday.</div><div><br></div><div>She added that defence and security cooperation would be on the agenda among other topics.</div><div><br></div><div>Russia and its ally China have been accused of arming Myanmar's junta with weapons used to attack civilians since last year's coup.</div><div><br></div><div>More than 1,500 civilians have been killed in a military crackdown since the coup on February 1, 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>Last week, the announcement of the junta's execution of four democracy activists was condemned by the UN Security Council in a rare consensus on the post-coup crisis.</div><div><br></div><div>The statement was endorsed by Russia and China -- the junta's two allies that have previously shielded it at the UN.</div><div><br></div><div>Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was in Moscow on a "private" visit in July and reportedly met officials from Moscow's space and nuclear agencies.</div><div><br></div><div>In July, Lavrov visited Egypt, Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda and Ethiopia. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>