Russia claims AUKUS more of a threat to Asia-Pacific region following its request for Indo missile base

Russia has sensationally argued its relationship with Jakarta poses less of a threat to the Asia-Pacific region than AUKUS, after reports Moscow had requested access to an Indonesian air base triggered a domestic political firestorm.

While Jakarta has assured Canberra it will not happen, neither the Australian Government nor Indonesia have categorically ruled out that Russia did request to station “long range” military aircraft at the Manuhua Air Force Base at Biak Numfor, about 1400km north of Darwin.

In a statement to the ABC, Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov defended military cooperation with Jakarta as an “integral part” of the relationship.

He did not confirm or deny the report — which first emerged in reputable defence site Janes — but said interaction between the two countries’ armed forces “encompasses various areas, including... between air forces”.

He said cooperation is “aimed at strengthening the defensive capabilities of both sides”.

“(It) is not aimed against any third countries and poses no threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

“When it comes to any challenges to regional stability, they are more likely to arise from the rotational deployment of large military contingents from extra-regional states on Australian territory, including the provision of airfields for the landing of strategic bombers and port infrastructure for visits by 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, as well as the acquisition by the Royal Australian Navy of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS trilateral partnership.”

The Russian ambassador to Indonesia has been contacted.

At home, the reports have triggered a political war of words and raised broader concerns about the increasingly close relationship between Jakarta and Russia.

Labor attacked the Opposition Leader for “verballing” the Indonesian President and fabricating a statement in an “extraordinary overreach”, saying he was unfit to be Prime Minister.

Mr Dutton on Tuesday had claimed Prabowo Subianto had “publicly announced” Moscow’s request, despite no such comments being made.

The Indonesian Defence Minister later told his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, that the reports were not true and there was “no prospect of Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia”.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Dutton denied he had been irresponsible and refused to concede he made a mistake when pressed multiple times. He said he had been making reference to a “credible military website that talked about Prabowo Government sources”.

He accused Labor of being “out of its depth” on international relations and aired concerns about the strengthening relationship between Russia and Indonesia.

Mr Albanese was asked at his morning press conference whether he knew before the reports emerged that Russia had made the request in the first place.

In response, he queried whether the reports were accurate.

“You are assuming the Janes report is correct, and there is no basis for you assuming that,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

Asked to clarify whether he knew for certain that Russia did not have a conversation with Indonesia about a military base, Mr Albanese said: “I am saying I will act diplomatically with our friends in Indonesia.”

He said Mr Dutton had acted dangerously on Tuesday.

“Yesterday you saw the contrast between a Government that’s considered, that deals with our neighbours and deals internationally in a diplomatic way, that doesn’t ... dial it up to 11, which is what Peter Dutton does ... doesn’t worry about facts, but in verballing the President of Indonesia who had not made a statement about this issue ... it was an extraordinary thing for him to do at any time,” Mr Albanese said.

They’ve had engagement in terms of not just diplomatically, but also in terms of military equipment and hardware.

At his own press conference in Melbourne, Mr Dutton would not be drawn on whether he had “overreached” in his comments on Tuesday and whether that potentially risked insulting Indonesia.

He also denied the comments he had made were irresponsible and said there were further questions for the Government to answer.

“The prospect of having Russia with the greatest presence in our region is very real and there are a lot of questions the Government still has to answer. We have asked for a briefing in relation to the matter that has not been forthcoming yet,” he said, adding that he would receive that on Wednesday.

He went on to attack Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong for not being “on top of her brief”. “The fact is when you have a foreign minister and a defence minister and a prime minister finding out about decisions from our friends and countries abroad ... you know this Government is not up to it,” he said.

“The relationship between Indonesia and Russia is closer, we know that and we want to continue (our) relationship because we don’t want Russian assets in our region.”

President Prabowo met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July 2024, before Indonesian and Russian naval forces conducted a joint exercise in November.

Indonesia then joined the BRICS bloc in January. Meanwhile, Australia and Indonesia signed a defence co-operation agreement last August.

Coalition campaign spokesman and shadow home affairs minister James Paterson had earlier said Australia should be proactive, not reactive, about Russian presence in the Pacific.

“Russia is obviously placing very great weight on the importance of this relationship. They’re in the middle of their largest war since the end of World War Two, and they sent their defence minister to Indonesia to meet with Indonesian officials,” he said.

“That shows how serious they are about establishing a presence in our region, and it shows why we should take it seriously and why we need to be proactive, not reactive, as the Government appears to be.

Senator Wong attacked Mr Dutton on Wednesday of being “too reckless and aggro to be Australia’s Prime Minster”.

She said Indonesian officials had made “very clear” to Australia they were “not contemplating any so-called Russian base, or any Russian assets operating out of Indonesian territory”.

But she could not confirm whether Indonesia had confirmed whether a request had been made in the first place. “I’m obviously not going to go into all the discussions we have diplomatically,” she told Sky News.

“We don’t do that through the media, but I would say this to you ... It is the case that there has been a longstanding relationship between Indonesia and Russia.

“It’s a historic relationship. They have had engagement. They’ve had engagement in terms of not just diplomatically, but also in terms of military equipment and hardware. So we’re well aware of the historic relationship, but what is important is to ensure we have a relationship with Indonesia where we can engage on issues, including the sorts of things that you saw yesterday.”

Mr Marles also sidestepped questions about whether Russia had put “an air base on the table or not”.

“Well, I mean, Russia — we know Russia is active in the region,” he told Channel 9.

“We know that they have conversations with people. What matters here. And I’m not about to go through the details of this in the media.”

On ABC Radio, Mr Marles wouldn’t bite when asked if his Indonesian counterpart had told him about a Russian approach.

“Well, I’m not going to go into the details of the conversation beyond what I have said, which is that Indonesia is unequivocal in the fact that there won’t be, there won’t be Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia. And it is important that I’m not canvassing that in the public domain,” he said.

On Wednesday afternoon when asked why the Government couldn’t reveal whether or not there had been a request, Mr Marles said “I’m not about to ventilate in public all that we know about this”.