The logo was created by freelance designer Udhy Mozal, who said he was inspired by the colors of the flags of the two countries, which were red, white and blue.

“The logo depicts two humans embracing each other to show strong friendship,” he told reporters after an awards ceremony at the official residence of Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva in South Jakarta.

“Russia is represented by a blue curve while Indonesia by a red curve. The two curves form the number 0, which is divided by a number 7.”

Udhy said he needed four to five days to finish the design.

Vorobieva said there were 39 design submissions in total during the competition period from July 22 to Aug. 27.

The embassy also held an essay competition, which attracted 309 entries, during the same period, using the theme: “Why am I attracted to Russia”.

“The competitions were the start of a series of events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic receptions, which falls on Feb. 3, 2020,” she said. “We appreciate all the participants who come from all over Indonesia, from Aceh to Sulawesi.”

The ambassador also presented a special award for creativity to tattoo artist Arnaz Adwitya Pramarthana who combined the Russian matryoshka doll with Cepot, a popular jester character from the Sundanese wayang golek doll tradition.

“I immediately remembered Cepot, who would be ideal to make the combination,” he told The Jakarta Post. “The design was completed in about a week.”

Arnaz’ design takes the form of a matryoshka with Cepot’s figure wearing clothing with a batik motif. The right cuff is adorned by a Russian flag and the left cuff with an Indonesian flag.

As for the essay competition, there were three winners. Rafly Aditya Nurdhani received an air ticket from Thai Airways while Monica Jesusia and Ardy Gifery received air tickets from Rossiya Airlines for the Denpasar-Moscow-Denpasar route.

In his essay, Rafly talked about various things Russian: from the Red Army that helped turned the tide during the World War II, the complexities of the language, science and literature, vodka and AK-47s, to its architectural and natural beauties.

“There were 309 essay submissions that were judged by the embassy’s own young diplomats who speak the Indonesian language fluently,” Vorobieva said.

The ambassador added that there were so many submissions that arrived after the deadline, about 1,000 in total, which unfortunately could not be considered for judging.

Vorobieva also presented the finalists from both competitions with certificates of appreciation.

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