Indonesia president-elect seeks stronger ties with ‘great friend’ Russia

President-elect Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia plans to maintain and enhance ties with Russia, with a focus on defense, energy, and education, highlighting Russia's historical support for Indonesia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia July 31, 2024.  / Photo: Reuters
Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia July 31, 2024.  / Photo: Reuters

Indonesia's President-elect Prabowo Subianto said his upcoming administration would maintain ties with "great friend" Russia after meeting President Vladimir Putin, adding that he hoped for stronger cooperation on defence, energy and education.

Prabowo, who is currently defence minister, is set to take over the presidency from Joko Widodo in October. He is currently on a trip to Moscow and met Putin on Wednesday.

"We consider Russia as a great friend," he said in a statement from the defence ministry.

"I would like to continue to maintain and enhance this relationship. In our history we remember Russia has always helped us in many aspects when we were in difficulties."

Prabowo also expressed his intent to continue a partnership in defence and nuclear energy, and to send Indonesian students to Russia to study medicine.

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Scaling up supplies

The trip to Moscow comes months after Prabowo went to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping to affirm Indonesia's "policy of friendship" with China.

Putin was quoted by Russian state news agency TASS Russia as saying Russia was ready to "scale up supplies of agricultural products, implement investment projects in the field of energy, transport, and infrastructure."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by TASS as saying that Indonesia's role in the war in Ukraine, which Putin calls a special operation, is "growing significantly nowadays".

Last year, Prabowo proposed a peaceful settlement for the war that includes a ceasefire and a demilitarised zone in an address to the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

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