Russia strongly supports the Southeast Asian diplomatic effort to end the crisis in Myanmar and has conveyed similar messages to the country’s military leadership, its foreign minister said yesterday. The five-point consensus agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc should be the basis by which the situation can be resolved, Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to Jakarta. Lavrov’s comments are significant and come amid deepening engagement between Russia and Myanmar’s military, as major global powers sanction its businesses and top leaders and call for a global ban on arms sales to the country. Myanmar has been in crisis since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1.