This handout picture taken and released on April 15, 2025 by Indonesia's Presidential Palace shows Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto (L) receiving Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. - Presidential Palace via AFP
JAKARTA: The Indonesian government has dismissed reports of a proposal from Russia to base several of its aircraft at an Indonesian Air Force base in Papua, asserting that the country will not allow any foreign military bases to be installed in the country.
Defence publication Janes published a report on Monday (April 14) that Russia had sought “permission from Jakarta to base several long-range Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) aircraft at the Manuhua Air Force Base” in Biak Numfor regency, Papua. The base shares a runway with the Frans Kaisiepo Airport in the regency.
The report, citing several anonymous sources within the Indonesian government as well as official documents, said the request was received by the Defence Ministry following Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin’s meeting with Russia’s top security official Sergei Shoigu in Jakarta in February.
According to Janes, the Indonesian Air Force had over the past few years approved some requests made by the VKS to land its Tupolev Tu-95 bombers and Il-76 airlifters at the Manuhua Air Force Base. Janes’ report also mentioned that the Defence Ministry is now consulting with other ministries, including the Foreign Ministry, on how to proceed with the official request, but has yet to issue an official acknowledgement of the proposal.
Responding to the report, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah “Roy” Soemirat dismissed the report, saying that the ministry had not heard about the request.
“Indonesia has never granted permission to any countries to build or base their aircraft in the country,” Roy wrote in a statement issued on Wednesday. He reaffirmed the country’s free and active foreign policy, which only allows foreign aircraft or ships to visit or pass through the archipelago under a peaceful mission.
Roy also acknowledged a plan to build a spaceport to launch satellites in Biak, referring to an old proposal from Moscow about a station project first offered in 2006. “The talks started years ago, but it has yet to reach an agreement,” Roy continued.
The Defence Ministry jumped on the bandwagon, with its spokesperson Brig. Gen. Frega Wena Inkiriwang denying on Wednesday that the ministry had any agreement or cooperation that could potentially lead to the establishment of a foreign base on Indonesian soil, as reported by tempo.co.
A day after Janes published the report, President Prabowo Subianto met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday, further fuelling speculations on the proposal.
On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that his government had asked its Indonesian counterpart for clarification about the reported proposal, with the issue dominating Australia’s election campaign this week. “We obviously do not want to see Russian influence in our region,” Albanese said, as quoted by Reuters, adding that Canberra has a good relationship with Jakarta.
Papua is about 1,200 kilometres north of the Australian city of Darwin, where a United States Marines Corp rotational force is based for six months of the year. It also has Australian air bases being upgraded to host visiting US bombers.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles had spoken to his Indonesian counterpart, who said that there would be no Russian air force planes based in Indonesia, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that Indonesia “is critical for Australian security”, with the two countries signing a defence cooperation agreement last year.
When asked about the Janes report, the Kremlin declined to comment. “There are a lot of different pieces of fake news around, publications in the media, including those that relate to sensitive areas. But in this case, we are not commenting on such publications,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters as quoted by Reuters
In a statement issued on Thursday and published in The Jakarta Post, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov neither confirmed nor denied the plan to send Russian military aircraft to the Papuan air base.
He asserted that “military cooperation is an integral part” of the Russia-Indonesia relations, including “cooperation between [both countries’] Air Forces”. “Such cooperation is aimed at strengthening the defensive capabilities of both sides, [...] not aimed against any third countries and poses no threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region,” the ambassador wrote.
He took aim at Australia, writing that challenges to regional stability are “more likely to arise from the rotational deployment of large military contingents from extra-regional states on Australian territory”, referring to the provision of Australian air bases and port for strategic bombers and nuclear-powered submarines.
“Particularly alarming are the currently discussed plans to deploy the US’ intermediate-range missiles in Australia, which would put Asean countries, including Indonesia, within its range,” Tolchenov wrote, “as well as the acquisition [...] of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS trilateral partnership.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
