Russian warnings to Australia that “you have no cards” to stop Russian military activity in the Indo-Pacific have been mocked by Anthony Albanese, who has dismissed an incendiary letter from an ambassador as authoritarian “propaganda”.
The unsubstantiated spectre of a proposed Russian military airbase on Indonesian territory has loomed over the past week of Australia’s federal election campaign, with the opposition accusing the government of obfuscating and dodging questions, and the government responding that the opposition had misrepresented the Indonesian government and actively fanned Russian propaganda.
At the weekend the Russian ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov, had a letter published in Indonesia’s largest English-language newspaper, the Jakarta Post, warning that any proposal of a Russian base on Indonesian soil was none of Australia’s concern.
“National interests cannot extend to the territory of neighbouring sovereign states that pursue active and independent policies,” Tolchenov wrote.
“It is hard to imagine that any ordinary Australians should be concerned about what is happening 1300 kilometres from their territory, about matters that concern relations between other sovereign states and have nothing to do with Australia.”
Tolchenov said Australia should be more concerned about the risk posed by its security ally, the US, particularly the stationing of US missiles and nuclear-powered submarines on its territory.
He said Australia had no right nor influence to interfere with the “strictly bilateral” cooperation between Indonesia and Russia. He finished his letter “you have no cards” – pointedly quoting Donald Trump’s Oval Office upbraiding of Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
At a press conference on Monday morning, Albanese was again asked about reports – first published last week by the defence news website Janes – that Russia had filed an official request with Indonesia for permission for its military aircraft to be based out of an airbase on the island of Biak, in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province. Biak is a little more than 1,300km from Darwin.
The Australian government’s position has been that there is “no prospect” of a Russian military base being established on Indonesian soil, a position reaffirmed by the Indonesian government.
“I’m anti-Russia,” Albanese said on Monday. “I’m not sure that everyone is on that page, but I think that Russia has very different values under an authoritarian leader.
“I have no wish to help promote Russia’s propaganda messages and I would suggest that that is not in Australia’s national interest either.”
Last week an Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson, Rolliansyah Soemirat, said the government had not granted permission to any country to establish a military base on its territory. His statement did not mention if Russian had made a request.
The domestic political debate in Australia has focused not on Indonesia’s repudiation of the prospect of the Russian aircraft being based in Indonesia but rather on whether Moscow made the request.
The Australian government last week dismissed demands from the opposition for a security briefing on the reported Russian request, arguing that there was no critical or imminent decision that required consultation with the opposition under caretaker conventions.
But the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said government ministers had obfuscated, given inconsistent statements, and repeatedly refused to answer questions on the reported Russian request.
“I think the prime minister has ducked and weaved on this question,” Dutton said Monday.
“The government’s language keeps changing. That seems strange.
“We have asked for a briefing. It’s still not forthcoming from the government. What do they have to hide? I wish this prime minister could be open and honest with the Australian people.”
In a significant campaign misstep last week, Dutton said it would be a “catastrophic failure of diplomatic relations” by the Labor government if it had not received notice of any Russian request before it was “publicly announced by the president of Indonesia”. He was forced to later concede that the Indonesian president had made no statement on the issue.
Again on Monday, Albanese dismissed opposition demands for a briefing as unjustified, saying there was no prospect of a Russian base about which to brief.
“I’m waiting for them [the opposition] to ask for a briefing on who faked the moon landing.”
Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, is far more internationally oriented than his predecessor, Joko Widodo, and, while he has repeatedly asserted Jakarta’s continued commitment to a non-aligned foreign policy, his actions have been seen as undermining that neutrality.
Prabowo swiftly signed his nation on to the China- and Russia-led Brics developing nations group after his October inauguration, and has strengthened ties with Russia. He visited Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last July – having won the election but before taking office – and will return in June this year as president.
In November Indonesia and Russia conducted bilateral naval drills for the first time, undertaking exercises in Indonesian waters, in the Java Sea, near Surabaya. In the same month, Indonesia conducted military drills with Australia.
