Jakarta. President-Elect Prabowo Subianto is looking to strike a nuclear energy partnership with Russia.

Prabowo proposed the idea when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace on Wednesday local time. Prabowo said he had talked with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom.

“In the field of nuclear energy, we have discussed with your institution Rosatom on the possibility of cooperating in this field, [including] the small modular reactors as well as the main reactors,” Prabowo told Putin at the Grand Kremlin Palace.

The broadcasted, public version of the bilateral talks did not reveal more details about this possible nuclear energy partnership. However, Putin gave his word on Russia’s readiness to invest in the energy sector, although he did not specifically mention nuclear power.

“We are ready to further increase agricultural deliveries and implement investment projects in energy, transport and infrastructure,” Putin said.

Nuclear plants generate over 19 percent of Russian electricity, according to Rosatom. Russia is also home to 38 nuclear units spread across 11 nuclear power sites. Indonesia has three nuclear reactors, but their use is solely limited to research purposes. 

This was not the first time that Jakarta nudged Moscow to work together on nuclear energy. Senior minister Airlangga Hartarto visited Moscow in June for a meeting with Rosatom’s first deputy chief executive Kiril Komarov.

“Nuclear energy can be one of the options for us to provide electricity to the people without harming the environment. We invite Russia to work with us to develop new and renewable energy in Indonesia,” Airlangga said at the time.

Indonesia is seeking to reach net zero emission by 2060. 

The government recently reported that Indonesia amassed around Rp 217.3 trillion (around $13.4 billion) in foreign investments in the second quarter of 2024. About $35.1 million came from Russia. This makes Russia Indonesia’s 22nd-largest foreign investor in that period, just behind Luxembourg ($38.4 million).