Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 31/Jul 22:38

Prabowo Visits Russia To ‘Emphasize’ Wish For Deeper Bilateral Ties As Indonesian President

Indonesia’s President-elect Prabowo Subianto said in Russia on Wednesday that his visit to Jakarta’s “great friend” Moscow was intended to highlight that as leader he would like to deepen bilateral ties, especially in defense, nuclear energy and education. Prabowo, who serves as defense minister, arrived in Moscow where he met with his Russian defense counterpart Andrei Belousov and then in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin. This visit came a little more than two months afterhe went to Chinaon his first overseas visit after winning the presidential election in February. And while that trip to Beijing was seen by analysts in the context of China’s massive investments in Indonesia, they appeared baffled by his Moscow sojourn. For his part, Putin called Prabowo “a good friend of our country” – in his role as defense minister, the Indonesian president-elect had last year proposeda controversial planto end the war in Ukraine that appeared to favor Moscow. During a televised address linked to his talks with Putin, the Indonesian president-elect dwelled on the help that Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, had extended to his country, according to a transcript of the speech. “And I come here to emphasize that I would like to enhance this relationship when I take over officially the presidency of the Republic of Indonesia this coming October,” he said. “[W]e must never forget those who helped us and I experienced great cooperation as minister of defense, with your ministers and your team.” Nuclear energy cooperation Prabowo said that during intensive discussions with Putin’s team and other Moscow officials, he had sought Russia’s help in food, energy security and education. “And I’ve been talking to some of your industrialists and we are open for more Russian participation in our economy,” he said. “In the field of nuclear energy, we have discussed … the possibility of cooperating…with small modular reactors and also main reactors. In other areas, we look forward to close cooperation in tactical fields,” he said. Prabowo and his Russian counterpart Belousov, meanwhile, focused talks on the transfer of defense technology, the Indonesian defense ministry said in a statement. The president-elect emphasized that technology transfer was necessary to establish an independent defense industry. Prabowo was the second Asian leader to visit Moscow and Putin this month. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first. India and Indonesia have not taken sides in their response to Russia’s military action in Ukraine, to Washington's consternation, say analysts. The U.S. and China don’t see eye to eye on the conflict either. Prabowo has said he backs the country’s traditional stance, “friendly to all, enemy to none,” and its resolve to stay out of the competition between the United States and China. “Indonesia has always followed a free and active foreign policy, not joining any alliance or bloc,” Prabowo saidduring a presidential debatein January ahead of the election. So while Prabowo may have made China his first stop after winning the election, he followed that with visits to U.S. allies Japan, South Korea and France, among other nations. In Moscow on Wednesday, Putin noted in a televised address that next year would mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Russia, according to a transcript of his speech on the Kremlin website. Russia was, he said, ready to “increase agricultural deliveries and implement investment projects in energy, transport and infrastructure.” Without mentioning Washington’s sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, Putin spoke of improved trade and economic ties with Indonesia in recent years. “Despite the pandemic and the current developments around Russia, including associated restrictions, our trade has been growing. It has doubled over the past years,” Putin said. “This is a very positive trend, which makes us happy. I hope that it will persist.” Prabowo agenda ‘not groundbreaking’ Defense and political analysts BenarNews spoke to were not sure about how to react to Prabowo’s Russia visit. Muradi, a political science and security professor at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, said he did not think Indonesia was interested in purchasing Russian equipment to shore up its defenses. “Prabowo’s visit to [meet] Putin was actually more of an exploratory one,” he told BenarNews. “Because Prabowoprefers Western-made defense equipmentto Russian ones. We prefer [French] Rafale aircraft to [Russian] Sukhoi,” he said. Prabowo’s comments in his speech on wishing to cooperate with Russia in nuclear energy were also just talk, said Muradi, who goes by one name. “If Indonesia collaborates with Russia, it will create new problems with the United States and it will not be easy for Indonesia to face negative signals from the U.S.,” he said. A defense analyst said Prabowo should have focused more on plans for military exercises, arms purchases or dialogues on geopolitical issues with his Russian counterpart, although neither country revealed the extent of their defense discussions. The agenda Prabowo presented Putin was “not groundbreaking,” the analyst, Raden Mokhamad Luthfi of Al Azhar University Indonesia, told Benar News. “Energy cooperation, particularly in nuclear energy development, was already discussed last month by [Indonesian] Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto,” he said. “After hearing Prabowo’s presentation to Putin, I do not see any urgent need for Prabowo to meet with Putin.” Shailaja Neelakantan in Washington and Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to this report.