Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed today he’s spoken with his counterpart in Indonesia, who has assured him there will be no Russian aircraft on bases in the country.
Marles was speaking on Today this morning after the Indonesian government rejected a report that Russia has lodged a request to base long-range planes at a military airfield just 1300 kilometres from Darwin.
He says Indonesian Defence Minister HE Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin had outright dismissed the prospect of Russian aircraft being based there.
“He made it utterly clear to me that reports of a prospect of a Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia are completely false, and that Indonesia has no intention of doing this whatsoever,” said Marles.
US military website Janes reported yesterday that Russia had officially requested to base aircraft at the Manuhua Air Force Base at Biak Numfor in the Indonesian province of Papua.
The news made an impact on the election campaign as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton raised questions about when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was informed.
Marles also repeated Labor’s scathing rebuke of Dutton after the Coalition leader claimed Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto had “publicly announced” Russia’s request to base aircraft on Indonesian soil, even though Prabowo’s government had not spoken on the issue.
“I cannot overstate the dangerous nature of an alternative prime minister of this country seeking to put words in the mouth of the president of Indonesia, which turned out to be completely wrong,” Marles said.
But the federal government has stayed coy about whether Russia put in any request to Indonesia about basing long-range aircraft in the South-East Asian country.
Today show host Karl Stefanovic repeatedly pushed the defence minister over the issue but Marles refused to confirm if any official request was made.
“Well, I mean, Russia, we know Russia is active in the region. We know that they have conversations with people … And I’m not about to go through the details of this in the media, unlike what Peter Dutton sought to do yesterday,” said Marles.
Albanese said today the relationship between Australia and Indonesia “had never been stronger” while campaigning in Melbourne.
“Indonesia is a sovereign nation. So we continue to put our argument about our own case and our own relationship with Indonesia,” he said.
“Indonesia and Russia have historically had relations that are different from Australia’s.”
