Jakarta – Russia is offering advanced jet fighters to Indonesia without any political conditions, a Russian embassy official said in Jakarta Tuesday.

Moscow's offer was part of Russia's marketing of its aircraft in the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asian region, an embassy information officer, Iouri I. Naskov, told the Indonesian news agency Antara.

Included among the planes on offer were Su-27 Sk and Mig-29 fighters.

Naskov's statement follows Indonesia's decision to cancel the purchase of nine U.S F-16 jet fighters. The Russian offer had been made before that decision, Naskov said.

"Russia never links the sales of its planes with political conditions. This is our principle. Because we won't interfere with the other countries' internal affairs," Naskov as quoted as saying.

The decision not to go ahead with the purchase of the F-16s was taken in Jakarta in view of the "wholly unjustified criticism" by the US Congress over Indonesia's human rights record.

During the era of the late President Sukarno, Indonesia had relied for its armed forces on Russian-made aircrafts and armaments, including Mig-15s, Il-28 and Tu-16 bombers.

But since President Suharto came to power in 1966, Jakarta has enforced a strict restriction on Soviet and then Russian-made aircraft and shifted its military shopping to Western cuntries.

The United States initiated the sale of the F-16s to Indonesia after the originally planned sale to Pakistan was blocked by Congress over Islamabad's nuclear policy.