Foreign things?
In addition, Prabowo wishes to strengthen bilateral relations with Russia, including defense links. As Minister of Defense and President -elected president, Prabowo visited Russia four times, more recently in July 2024. In February 2025, Sergei Shoigu, former Minister of Defense of Russia and now secretary of the Russian Security Council, visited Jakarta.
According to Janes, it is either at this meeting, or shortly after, that Russia has made the request to use the Air Base of the island of Biak.
Curiously, there could also be a link between the 2017 visit of Russian strategic bombers to Biak and the recent story of Janes.
As indicated, it was not clear why Indonesia had agreed to host the refueling mission. At the time, however, Indonesia and Russia negotiated the sale of 11 SU-35 fighter planes for 1.14 billion US dollars. As part of this agreement, Russia may have requested access to the Manuhau air base (Russia has a similar agreement with Vietnam for naval and air deployments in Cam Ranh Bay).
The SU-35 agreement was signed in 2018 but collapsed three years later, due to the threat of American sanctions. But under Prabowo, the purchase of Russian fighter planes can now be back on the table. Has Moscow pushed the limits by offering Indonesia a discount on the plane in exchange for landing rights on Biak?
In the end, due to problems of sovereignty and principles of foreign policy of Indonesia, it was always unlikely that Indonesia will accept the request of Russia. But foreign things have happened.
Ian Storey is a principal researcher in Iseas – Yusof Ishak Institute. This commentary appeared for the first time On ISEAS – The blog of the Yusof Ishak Institute, Fulcrum.
