(Bloomberg) — Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who last year unsuccessfully pushed a peace proposal that would have left Russia occupying parts of Ukraine, will meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow later today.
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Prabowo, a former general who is currently defense minister, will meet with his counterpart Andrey Belousov, according to a statement from the ministry in Jakarta. The visit is intended to “strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and Russia and enhance cooperation, especially in the defense sector.”
Prabowo’s first visit to the Kremlin as president-elect comes on a trip to Europe in which he met French President Emmanuel Macron, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. All of those meetings were aimed at boosting defense links, the ministry said.
Earlier this year, Prabowo traveled to China to meet Xi Jinping in his first visit since winning the presidency in a February vote. Prabowo went on to visit Japan — a key US ally — after his China visit, in a sign that he intends to continue his predecessor’s middle-of-the-road strategy in navigating the US-China rivalry.
His Kremlin meeting comes after Prabowo last month criticized Moscow’s absence from a summit to end the war on Ukraine.
“Many countries feel that in a peace summit all elements must be present, especially Russia,” Prabowo said after discussing his country’s cease-fire proposals with Zelenskiy.
The former soldier officially succeeds Joko Widodo as president of Indonesia in October.
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