Anthony Albanese ducks as Russian envoy goes on the offensive

Vladimir Putin’s top envoy to Indonesia says Russia views Australia as a ‘non-friendly state’ that sanctions its President.

Russian ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov in Jakarta. Picture: Dian Septiari

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Vladimir Putin’s top envoy to Indonesia said on Monday that Russia views Australia as a “non-friendly state” that sanctions its President and supplies money and armaments to Ukraine, as Anthony Albanese dodged questions over whether he knew about Moscow’s request to base long-range military aircraft in Papua before the election campaign kicked off.

The comments came as the Prime Minister faced fresh questions over the issue, first reported by the respected Janes defence journal on April 14, after having previously sown doubt over whether Russia actually made the request.

Asked on Monday whether he knew what Russia was asking for before the election campaign – as revealed in The Australian – he appeared to change tack, saying he would not be goaded into using intelligence for political gain. “What adults do on intelligence is receive them and not do it – conduct it through the media,” Mr Albanese said. “When it comes to intelligence, adults act like adults.”

The Prime Minister also told Sydney radio 2GB his government had been “completely clear that the Indonesia government have said that this is not going to happen and, what’s more, my opponent verballed the President of Indonesia, an important country that we have an important diplomatic ­relationship with”.

“Russia, of course, will engage in the sort of propaganda that tries to assert its influence,” he said. “The truth is that Russia is struggling to beat the brave people of Ukraine under President Zelenskyy – something my government has backed Ukraine everyday.”

The opposition has accused Mr Albanese of ducking and weaving over what it claims is evidence of a Russian campaign for influence in Indonesia, pointing to the two ­nations’ first bilateral naval drills last November and the Jakarta visit in February by Russian Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu. Mr Albanese has previously compared Coalition demands for a briefing on the Russian request to wanting a briefing on the “faking” of the 1969 moon landing.

Indonesia has also recently joined the China and Russia-led BRICS developing nation grouping, while President Prabowo Subianto will in June make his second visit to Moscow since his February 2024 election victory.

The Australian understands the federal government was told soon after Mr Shoigu discussed the issue in February with Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin that Moscow wanted to use Manuhua air base on Biak island north of Papua, 1300km from Darwin, to transit Russian military aircraft, reportedly Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bombers.

Indonesia, which has for decades maintained a non-aligned foreign policy, granted Moscow permission to use the base in 2017 for air surveillance. Biak is also the proposed location of a joint Indonesian-Russian satellite project. But the Janes report cites Indonesian officials as saying Russia is seeking to permanently base long-range aircraft out of Biak.

Russian ambassador Sergei Tolchenov told a media briefing at the Jakarta embassy on Monday that Australian politicians in election mode had overreacted to the Janes report, which had either ­“intentionally or unintentionally” misinterpreted unofficial information from the Indonesian side.

“I don’t want to use words that they stole some information, but it looks something like this,” he said of one of the world’s most res­pected defence journals.

Mr Tolchenov accused Mr ­Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of using Moscow’s bilateral military relationship with Jakarta to score political points ahead of the federal election, and of competing to be the most anti-Russian politician.

“All these discussions have been started between two candidates for Australian prime minister because next month there will be elections in Australia and they are now discussing who will be the next leader and who knows (more) about national security,” he said. “This is two Australian politicians engaging in a game of who is more of a Russophobe, who is more anti-Russian. Please do not involve us.”

Moscow had almost no relationship with Australia, which was one of the “few countries that apply not only economic but also personal sanctions against a lot of Russian politicians”, including Putin, he added.

“Since then we almost do not have any relations with Australia. By the way, Australia is one of the countries who supply armaments and military to Ukraine.”

Some Australians were fighting with Ukraine against Russia, while one was caught in Russian territory, Mr Tolchenov said in an apparent reference to Oscar Jenkins, a 33-year-old Australian teacher captured in December 2024 in Russian-occupied Luhansk.

And the envoy again suggested it was hypocritical to raise regional security concerns over Russia’s ­bilateral military relationship with Indonesia, when the same could be said about US bases in The Philippines and Australia, and the AUKUS security pact intended to equip the Australian military with nuclear-powered submarines.

“Is it also normal or is it a threat for ASEAN member states? What about, for example, American mid-range missiles in The Philippines?” he asked.

Moscow was “looking for many possibilities for military co-operation” with Indonesia, said Mr Tolchenov, and was ready to provide defence and space technologies – from missiles to space launch technology – if it was interested, as well as nuclear energy capability.