JP/I Gede Dharma JS

Only a few months into the job, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Georgievna Vorobieva has said that she already feels “very much at home” in Jakarta.

“I really like Indonesia and I find that although Russia and Indonesia are very far geographically, there are some similarities, in being very big countries, and being very diverse countries in terms of multi-ethnic composition,” she told The Jakarta Post recently.

Along with 10 other ambassadors, Vorobieva presented her letter of credence to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in April.

 Since arriving in Jakarta, she said she has enjoyed interacting with the Indonesian people, from colleagues at the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies to “people on the street who smile and are extremely friendly”.

 “I also enjoy the weather. It’s so warm and very much [full of] greenery and sunshine, which for me, a Russian who knows what a long and cold winter is, is very nice,” she said.

 Indonesia is not the first tropical country Vorobieva has been assigned to. Since becoming a Russian diplomat in 1989, she has held several positions, including minister-counsellor at the Russian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in 2005 and Russian ambassador to Malaysia in 2010.

 Before being assigned to Indonesia, she was a director general for Russia’s Asian department and dealt with many regions, including Japan, ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand.

 She said she did not initially plan to be an ambassador to Indonesia, but “when it was suggested by my bosses that I be assigned to Jakarta, I happily agreed because I spent many years working in Southeast Asia,” she said.

 Being a diplomat in Southeast Asia had its own challenges, she said. As a professional, one of the biggest challenges she faced was when she was the ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

 During her time there, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a passenger flight that was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The incident killed all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. It was Malaysia Airlines’ second aircraft loss that year after the disappearance of Flight MH 370 in March.

“There was a lot of conversation that Russia was behind it. In my capacity as Russian ambassador to Malaysia, I had to provide unbiased information on what happened,” she said, adding that she appreciated the stances taken by the Malaysian government and other ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, which did not share the same view as western countries that “accused Russia immediately without any evidence”.

When she was working in Moscow last year, she said she attended the Wonderful Indonesia Festival, which attracted thousands of Russians and generated a lot of interest about Indonesia.

 “I hear that this year will be even bigger and many more Russians [will be] attending. Hopefully, I’m not promising anything yet, but hopefully we can do something similar in Jakarta or other regions in Indonesia,” she said.

 She recommended that those visiting Russia take the trans-Siberian train from Moscow to Vladivostok. The trip takes approximately seven days.

 “I never did it, but that’s my dream when I retire and have more time. I heard from people who did this that it is a very fantastic trip with many stops at towns and places,” she said.

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