Roger Stone Hired by Myanmar Government for US Relations Work

US lobbyist Roger Stone has been hired to provide public affairs services to Myanmar’s ministry of information at a rate of $50,000 a month. According to documents filed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, the services are directed at rebuilding relations between Myanmar and the United States with a focus on trade, natural resources and humanitarian relief.

Stone is listed as a consultant for the firm the DCI Group. Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup in 2021, ousting the government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The country has faced international isolation and various US sanctions since then. Those measures were imposed in response to the coup and to the military’s alleged genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority, a case now before the International Court of Justice.

The military has been accused by UN experts and rights groups of repeated atrocities against civilians while trying to suppress opposition movements. The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar warned in 2024 of substantial evidence that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by the military after the coup.

Justice for Myanmar, a civil society group, accused the DCI Group and Stone of profiting from a heavily sanctioned junta that is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity. The military rulers held staggered elections earlier this year that were widely described as a one-sided sham.

Min Aung Hlaing, the general who led the 2021 coup, was appointed president last month. Conflict has continued across the country, with more than 450 people killed in air and drone strikes in March according to the conflict monitor Acled. Stone, 73, is a longtime political strategist.

In 2019 he was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison but received clemency in 2020. Both the DCI Group and Stone were contacted for comment but did not respond.

The US has imposed sanctions against individuals and businesses linked to Myanmar’s military over recent years. The coup plunged the country into economic turmoil and a spiralling civil war. The military has previously defended its operations by saying they are targeted at terrorists intent on destabilising the country.