Asia: First joint naval exercises between Russia and Indonesia

Indonesia and Russia began their first joint naval exercises on Monday, at a time when the president of this Southeast Asian archipelago wants to strengthen Jakarta’s role on the world stage.

These exercises, lasting five days, are taking place in two phases in eastern Java, where Russia is to send three corvettes, a tanker, a military helicopter and a tugboat.

According to local television channels, the Russian ships were welcomed with a fanfare on Sunday at a port in the town of Subraya, the day before the start of the exercises.

Important commercial relationships

Jakarta has long favored a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take a clear side in the war between Russia and Ukraine or to choose between China and the United States, two rival great powers.

But new President Prabowo Subianto has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure. Asean, of which Indonesia is a member, has already participated in joint military exercises with Russia in 2021, but Jakarta has never before organized bilateral maneuvers with Moscow.

Jakarta has billions of dollars of trade ties with Russia, but its arms imports have stagnated in recent years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), following Western sanctions imposed to Russia after the invasion of Crimea in 2014 and Ukraine in 2022.

However, Prabowo Subianto kept a potential $1.1 billion deal for Russian fighter jets, concluded in 2018, on the table, despite the threat of US sanctions.

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