Russia has responded for the first time to claims that it is trying to gain access to an Indonesian air base. It defended its military cooperation with Indonesia and criticised Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine plan.

The report, which suggested that Russia wants to station “long-range aircraft” at the Manuhua air base in Papua, sparked a heated political debate during the election campaign. On Tuesday, Indonesia’s Defence Minister reassured Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles that Jakarta would not allow such a move. However, neither Australia nor Indonesia has clearly denied that Russia made an attempt to access the air base. Indonesia’s Defence Minister and President Prabowo Subianto have not made any public comments about the issue.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s Defence Ministry said there was no record of such a request. “I have checked the minutes when we had the meeting with Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in February, and there is no record of any request. So I was confused when asked about this. I don’t know where this has come from," he said.  

He repeated that allowing foreign military planes to be stationed in Indonesia goes against the country's independent foreign policy. Russia's ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov, said on Wednesday afternoon in an interview with ABC that military cooperation is an important and natural part of the official relationship between Russia and Indonesia. He didn't confirm that Russia was planning to base its aircraft in Papua, as reported by the military website Janes yesterday. However, he also didn’t deny the report and instead highlighted the importance of “cooperation” between air forces.

"Interaction between the armed forces of Russia and Indonesia encompasses various areas, including cooperation between the air forces," he said. "Such cooperation is aimed at strengthening the defensive capabilities of both sides, is not aimed against any third countries, and poses no threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region." The ambassador also criticised Australia, saying that the United States' moving troops and bombers to the Northern Territory is more likely to cause problems for regional stability.

"When it comes to any challenges to regional stability, they are more likely to arise from the rotational deployment of large military contingents from extra-regional states on Australian territory, including the provision of airfields for the landing of strategic bombers and port infrastructure for visits by nuclear-powered submarines," he said. "Particularly alarming are the currently discussed plans to deploy the US' intermediate-range missiles in Australia, which would put ASEAN countries — including Indonesia — within its range, as well as the acquisition by the Royal Australian Navy of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS trilateral partnership."

Today, the government increased its criticism of Peter Dutton, accusing him of making up a statement by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in response to recent news. In return, the opposition is asking the government to explain more clearly what it knows about the reported request. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday that journalists shouldn’t automatically believe the original report from Janes is accurate.

When Marles was questioned about the issue, he said he couldn't share the information because it was "classified." "We know that Russia is engaged in the region, we know that Russia wants things from time to time," he said. "But I'm not about to ventilate in public all that we know in relation to that." He also said the "important" thing was that Indonesia's defense minister had clearly stated that Russian aircraft would definitely not be operating from Indonesia.