Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said.
Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta.
“It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter Pandie, researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Photo: Indonesian Presidential Palace / AFP
Jakarta has billion-dollar trade ties with Moscow, but major arms imports have stalled in the past few years, following Western sanctions on Russia after it seized Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine in 2022, according to weapons watchdog the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Still, Prabowo kept alive a 2018 US$1.1 billion Russian fighter jet deal when he was appointed defense minister a year later, despite the reported threat of US sanctions.
Jakarta also refused to budge when Western nations lobbied Indonesia to disinvite Russia from the G20 summit it hosted in 2022.
Prabowo met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in July, later announcing joint naval drills that experts say indicate how Moscow would grow in significance as part of a broader foreign policy.
The five-day drills begin today in eastern Java where Moscow would send three corvette-class warships, a medium tanker ship, a military helicopter and a tug boat.
“They reaffirm that we will not alienate one or two countries in the geopolitical arena,” Paramadina Graduate School of Diplomacy assistant professor Anton Aliabbas said.
The new leader has already been tested at sea, with a China Coast Guard vessel being driven away three times from Indonesian-claimed waters by Jakarta’s ships last month.
For Indonesia, the chance to host one of the world’s most advanced navies is clear.
It will allow “capacity building to be obtained” and for Jakarta to “exchange ideas” on maintaining Russian equipment it already owns, Binus University defense analyst Curie Maharani Savitri said.
Pieter said he expects the exercises to not be as advanced as annual Super Garuda Shield drills Indonesia hosts with the US and other allies.
“I think it’s an introductory phase to the military relationship between the two, especially on the naval side,” he said.
However, the drills might still raise eyebrows in Washington, which has been trying to diplomatically isolate Russia.
“Historically, the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, but ... Indonesia has been trying to diversify its partners,” he said. “And I think there’s an overall bigger trend of that.”
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