WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday targeted three Myanmar citizens and a company it said were helping the junta that seized power in the Southeast Asian country early last year to procure weapons, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
The military staged a coup in February 2021, detaining democratic leaders including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, then violently suppressed protests, sparking off a spiraling conflict. Western nations have issued sanctions against the military and its businesses.
The Treasury said in a statement it was imposing sanctions on Myanmar businessman Aung Moe Myint, the son of a military officer who it said facilitated arms purchases, as well as a company he founded, Dynasty International Company Limited, and two of its directors.
“Today we are targeting the support networks and war profiteers that enable weapons procurement for Burma’s military regime,” Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the statement.
“Treasury will continue to take action to degrade the Burmese military’s ability to commit brutal acts of violence against the people of Burma.”
The State Department also barred former Myanmar police chief and deputy home affairs minister Than Hlaing from traveling to the United States for his involvement in human rights violations, the Treasury said, specifically citing the extrajudicial killings of peaceful protesters in February 2021.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Susan Heavey and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bernadette Baum)
