Indonesia, Russia navies hold first joint drills in Java Sea

4/11/2024 17:25

        Naval forces of Indonesia and Russia began their first joint military training drills in the Java Sea on Monday, the Indonesian navy said, which analysts say shows 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 ties with any country as part of his country's long-held non-alignment foreign policy.
        
        Navy spokesperson I Made Wira Hady Arsanta Wardhana said on Monday, the drills will take place in the Java Sea near Indonesia's Surabaya city, east of the capital Jakarta, from Nov. 4 to 8 after four Russian war ships arrived on location on Sunday.
        
        "The joint drills are an actualisation of an international partnership between the Indonesian and the Russian navies that's been constantly good," Wardhana said in a statement, providing no further details on what the exercise entailed.
        
        The statement quoted a Russian delegation representative as saying that the exercise was designed for the two navies to exchange knowledge.