By Prasto Wardoyo

Naval forces of Indonesia and Russia began their first joint military training drills in the Java Sea on Monday, the Indonesian navy said, something analysts said showed the Southeast Asian country’s willingness to befriend any country.

The joint exercise comes as Indonesia’s newly-inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto has pledged closer ties with Russia on defence, in his bid to forge links with any country as part of his nation’s long-held non-alignment foreign policy.

The drills will take place in the Java Sea near Indonesia’s Surabaya city, east of the capital Jakarta, through Friday after four Russian war ships arrived on location on Sunday, the navy said in a statement on Monday.

“Russian warships came from afar to Indonesia and conducted joint exercises for the first time that seek to improve diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Russia, especially the navies,” Indonesian navy commander Denih Hendrata said.

The statement quoted a Russian delegation representative as saying that the exercise was designed for the two navies to exchange knowledge.

Sergey Tolchenov, Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, said on Monday the drills were not aimed at any country and could “ensure security and stability in the region”.

Analysts say the drills signal Indonesia’s more active willingness to befriend any country.

“This can mean that Indonesia wants to work with everybody,” said Yohanes Sulaiman, an international relations professor, adding there were still questions around Prabowo’s grand strategy in foreign policy and that the drills may be Russia’s way of showing that it still has friends.

Prabowo called Russia his “great friend” when he went to Moscow in July.

Indonesia has held military exercises with other countries.

The annual “Super Garuda Shield” drills with the United States have taken place since 2006 and the 2024 edition featured over 4,500 personnel and lasted two weeks.

(Additional reporting and writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Michael Perry and Ed Osmond)