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Agence France-Presse

Indonesia and Russia kicked off their first joint naval drills on Monday, as the Southeast Asian archipelago’s new leader seeks to boost ties with Moscow.
The region’s biggest economy maintains a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take sides in the Ukraine conflict or in great power competition between Washington and Beijing.
But newly inaugurated Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to be bolder on the world stage and in July visited Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin.
The five-day drills will take place in two phases at a naval base in Surabaya and in the Java Sea.
Russia has sent three corvette class warships, a medium tanker ship, a military helicopter, and a tug boat, the Indonesian navy said in a statement last week.
Local broadcasters showed Russian ships calling into port and being welcomed by an Indonesian marching band on Sunday ahead of the drills.

Analysts say the joint exercises signal Prabowo is beginning a significant foreign policy shift, pledging to boost Jakarta’s alliances with major powers.
During a visit to the Kremlin in July, Prabowo – a 73-year-old ex-general – said he wanted to deepen the relationship with Russia.
“We consider Russia as a great friend and I would like to continue to maintain and enhance this relationship,” Prabowo told Putin.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc, which Indonesia is a member of, held joint exercises with Russia in 2021, but Jakarta had never held drills alone with Moscow before this week.
Jakarta has billion-dollar trade ties with Moscow, yet major arms imports have stalled in recent years after Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine in 2022.
Still, since becoming defence minister in 2019 Prabowo has kept alive a US$1.1 billion Russian fighter jet deal agreed a year earlier, despite the reported threat of US sanctions.


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Indonesia

Indonesia’s first naval drills with Russia get under way

Indonesian Navy personnel march during a military parade in Jakarta last month. Photo: Reuters

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (third from left) and other officials at a cabinet retreat in Central Java last month. Photo: Indonesia’s Presidential Palace / AFP

Will Prabowo’s Brics ambitions reshape Indonesia’s ties with Russia and China?

Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July. Photo: Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Two Russian corvettes are seen arriving in Shanghai for a port call last year. Photo: CCTV

Indonesia’s new Foreign Minister Sugiono arrives at Kazan Airport in Russia on October 22 for last month’s Brics summit. Photo: Brics-Russia2023.ru/Reuters

Prabowo shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in April. Photo: China Daily via Reuters

A Chinese coastguard ship pictured sailing through the North Natuna Sea on October 25. Photo: Indonesian Maritime Security Agency/Handout via EPA-EFE

Indonesia’s Brics bid raises questions about Asean’s future under Prabowo

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto salutes at a swearing-in ceremony in Jakarta on October 22. Photo: AP

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono arrives at the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia on October 24, 2024. Photo: RU Host Photo Agency via Reuters

Prabowo joins hands with Philippine Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen at an Asean summit in Jakarta last year. Photo: AP

‘The race is on’: Brics ramps up its challenge to the Western-led world order

Russian President Vladimir Putin (top, centre) chairs a meeting of Brics leaders on Wednesday. Photo: Brics/dpa

United Nations headquarters in New York. US-backed international institutions need reinvigorating, analysts say. Photo: Reuters

Leaders of the nine Brics countries – Ethiopia, Egypt, South Africa, China, Russia, India, the UAE, Iran and Brazil – pose for a family photo during the summit on Wednesday. Photo: Kremlin/dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping during the official welcoming ceremony at the summit. Photo: brics-russia2024.ru/dpa 

A Russian soldier fires a gun toward a Ukrainian position on October 17. The Ukraine war was one of several seismic geopolitical shifts that fuelled a surge of interest in Brics. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry Press Service photo via AP

The New Development Bank’s headquarters in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

Putin interacts with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Brics summit in Kazan on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping exits a car as he arrives at the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia. Photo: brics-russia2024.ru/Reuters

China’s goal of reducing dollar dependence has grown increasingly significant in recent years. Photo: dpa

Will Indonesia’s foreign policy be more assertive under Prabowo?

Indonesian President Joko Widodo talks to Prabowo Subianto in the future capital Nusantara in August. Photo: AFP

Prabowo Subianto with running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka at the General Election Commission headquarters in Jakarta in April. Photo: Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping with Prabowo in Beijing in April. Photo: China Daily via Reuters

Prabowo meets Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in Manila in September. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

Analysts say the joint exercises signal the start of Prabowo Subianto’s foreign policy shift, seeking to boost alliances with major powers


Analysts say the joint exercises signal the start of Prabowo Subianto’s foreign policy shift, seeking to boost alliances with major powers.


Russia

Defence

Indonesia’s first naval drills with Russia get under way

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Analysts say the joint exercises signal the start of Prabowo Subianto’s foreign policy shift, seeking to boost alliances with major powers

Analysts say the joint exercises signal the start of Prabowo Subianto’s foreign policy shift, seeking to boost alliances with major powers