Agencies, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto and his defense minister held talks on Tuesday with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu in Jakarta, as Moscow and Jakarta seek to boost defence ties.
Indonesia maintains a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take sides in the Ukraine conflict or in the great power competition between the United States and China.
Shoigu, Russia's former defence minister and now secretary of its Security Council, is seen as influential in the decision to send Russian troops into Ukraine in 2022 and is a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin.
He met Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin for a courtesy call in the capital Jakarta on Tuesday morning, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Prabowo then received Shoigu at the presidential palace on Tuesday afternoon, the presidential palace said in a statement.
"This visit marks an important moment in strengthening bilateral relations between Indonesia and Russia, particularly in the fields of security and defence," the statement said.
"They discussed various strategic issues related to bilateral relations and regional security."
The palace said the visit opened up "broader opportunities for future cooperation" with both sides committed to "strengthening their strategic partnership".
Recently inaugurated Prabowo has pledged to be bolder on the world stage and visited Moscow in July for talks with Putin.
In November, Indonesia and Russia held their first joint naval drills.
Russia sent three corvette-class warships, a medium tanker ship, a military helicopter, and a tug boat for the drills held in East Java.
Jakarta has billion-dollar trade ties with Moscow, yet major arms imports have stalled in recent years after Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and launched its offensive on Ukraine.
Still, since becoming defence minister in 2019, Prabowo has kept alive a $1.1 billion Russian fighter jet deal agreed a year earlier, despite the reported threat of US sanctions.
In January, Sergey Tolchenov, Russia's ambassador to Indonesia, said Moscow's deal with Jakarta to ship Russian Su-35 fighter jets to Indonesia is still alive.
"The [Su-35 deal] is not canceled. It is still on the table," the diplomat noted. "We will continue the negotiations one day."
The envoy expressed hope that President Prabowo's military background could move bilateral relations in the defense sector in a positive direction.
"I hope [that our defense ties will grow stronger], but it is an important aspect of our bilateral relations. We also see the Indonesian [military] use Russian arms, and this proves that we have really high-quality arms. If Indonesia is interested, we are ready to negotiate," Tolchenov noted.