Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto intends to bring an end to the long-drawn-out Russia-Ukraine war, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono.

In his first-ever annual press address, Sugiono gave an overview of what sort of foreign diplomacy the Prabowo government would take. Sugiono said that Indonesia would continue to pursue global peace while adding that the “world doesn’t need more clashes and rivalry”. He also brought the forum’s attention to the Russia-Ukraine war, which had already been going on for almost three years.

“In Europe, the war in Ukraine has caught President Prabowo’s attention. Since the very beginning, he has conveyed proposals and ideas to stop the conflict in that region. He has urged parties to immediately negotiate a peace deal,” Sugiono said in Jakarta.

Later that day, Deputy Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir gave more details on what Prabowo thought of the war. The diplomat talked of Indonesia’s “free and active” foreign policy. This diplomatic approach sees Indonesia not aligning with any military pact or any major power. 

“But [that foreign policy stance shows] we must be ‘active’ by punching out new concepts. Before becoming president, he had proposed some peace plans for Ukraine. To us, diplomacy and negotiations are key for peace,” Arrmanatha told reporters on the sidelines of the media gathering.

The Jakarta Globe also asked whether Prabowo had plans to nudge some peace talks between the leaders of the two warring countries just like his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. 

Arrmanatha said: “We would take a look at the dynamics first. But for now, we will push for an end in the war, and then we will move on to the next process.”

The Russia-Ukraine war escalated in February 2022. Later that year, Jokowi flew to Ukraine, and also Russia, on a peace mission aimed at cooling down the war that had threatened the global food supply. Jokowi met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky first and promised he would deliver the latter’s message to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. At the Kremlin, Jokowi said that he managed to get Putin’s word to ensure food and fertilizer supplies from the conflicting economies.

Before becoming president, Prabowo had flown to the Kremlin for some bilateral talks with Putin last July. His statement -- at least according to the parts open to press coverage -- mainly focused on building stronger Russia-Indonesia ties. 

Prabowo had had in-person talks with Zelensky on the sidelines of Asia’s premier defense summit Shang-ri La Dialogue in Singapore back in June. Prabowo was still the defense minister at the time. A ministerial press release showed that Prabowo had touched on seeking a mutually beneficial defense partnership with Ukraine. At the 2023 Shangri-La Dialogue, Prabowo pushed for a peace plan that called for a ceasefire between the warring countries.

Fast forward to post-inauguration, Prabowo told his G20 counterparts in November that Indonesia urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

Kyiv early this year decided to not renew a transit deal that had let Russia export its gas to Europe via Ukraine. Kyiv fears that the revenue made from those exports could help Russia fund its war. Prabowo’s senior economic advisor Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan recently said that this could potentially lead to an energy crisis in Europe. This recent development had also become something that Indonesia had taken note of, according to Luhut.

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