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Russia laments 'unfair' US arms competition in Indonesia
The Russian Embassy in Jakarta has expressed frustration over the United States' “unfair” sanctions that attempt to block its arms trade with Indonesia.
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Parts of a Russian S-400 missile defense system are unloaded from a Russian plane at Murted Airport, known as Akinci Air Base, near Ankara, Turkey, on July 12. (Reuters/Turkish Military/Turkish Defence Ministry)
R
ussia has expressed frustration over the “unfair” competition it faces in the arms trade with Indonesia, which, like other countries, is under the threat of United States sanctions.
Speaking to reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday, Russian deputy ambassador to Indonesia Oleg V. Kopylov said that while the Indonesian government had been straightforward about its intention to buy Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, not much had happened after the deal.
Indonesia and Russia signed a US$1.14 billion purchase contract for 11 Sukhoi jets in February 2018, but neither side knows when the first delivery will happen.
Kopylov said he believed the US wanted to remain the biggest exporter of arms and maintain its strength in the global arms race by preventing other countries from cooperating with Russia in the military and engineering spheres, as it had done with Turkey, India and China.
“But competition can be fair or unfair,”' he said.
“If the US and Russia compete for the Indonesian market and Indonesia chooses the best, most cost-effective arms, that is fair. But the competition is not fair if it is based on sanctions or threats to countries who purchase Russian arms.”
Indonesian officials have said the US has expressed its disappointment with the intended procurement. The US has threatened countries with its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which allows countries to be punished for buying Russian aircraft and other military equipment – a legacy of the Cold War era.
