Major update on Russia’s secret plan to build a military base at Australia’s doorstep

The Albanese government has adamantly rejected reports that Russian aircraft could be posted near Australia’s borders. 

The nation was rocked by reports on Tuesday suggesting the Kremlin had lodged an official request with Indonesia to base long-range aircraft at Manuhua Air Force.

The base, which shares a runway with the Frans Kaisiepo Airport, is in the Papua province and could bring Russian military planes within 1300km of Darwin.

Multiple sources from the Indonesian government told Janes Defence Weekly the request was received by the office of Indonesia’s Minister of Defence Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

It’s believed to have followed a meeting between Mr Sjamsoeddin and the Russian Federation’s Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu in February.

But Australia’s defence minister Richard Marles has insisted the claims are false after getting clarification from Mr Sjamsoeddin.

‘He has said to me in the clearest possible terms, reports of the prospect of Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia are simply not true,’ Mr Marles told news.com.au.

Ties between Russia and Indonesia have deepened in recent months, with the pair performing drills in the Java Sea.

The Kremlin said there was a lot of fake news around when it was asked about the reports, ABC reported.

Russia has previously flown two nuclear-capable bombers from the base on what were believed to be an intelligence gathering exercise in 2017. 

At a press conference in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government ‘obviously do not want to see Russian influence in our region’.

‘We stand with Ukraine. We regard Vladimir Putin as an authoritarian leader who has broken international law, who’s attacking the sovereignty of the nation of Ukraine,’ he said.

Mr Albanese told reporters the government was seeking ‘proper clarification’ with Indonesia about what had taken place so as to ‘not fire from the hip’.

But, before Mr Marles had made his statement, Peter Dutton appeared to suggest the deal had been announced by the Indonesian government when it had in fact not.

The Opposition Leader was pulled up during an interview with ABC’s Afternoon Briefing over his claim.

‘There’s commentary I have seen reported from the Indonesian spokesperson; that’s obviously come from the administration,’ he said.

‘If the government has the functioning relationship they claim they have, then they should have engaged, surely, with Indonesia,’ he said.

He also echoed the Prime Minister’s stance that he does not want to see Russian aircraft near Australia.

‘We don’t want Russian planes or other military assets in our region, it’s not in our country’s best interests,’ Mr Dutton said.

Earlier, Mr Dutton demanded the Albanese government to reveal when they found out about Putin’s request.

‘This would be a catastrophic failure of diplomatic relations (if the government did not know) … this is a very very troubling development,’ he said.

‘Did the Prime Minister know about this before it was publicly announced?

‘They need to explain to the Australian people what has gone wrong here … We don’t welcome his presence in our neighbourhood at all.’

There has been no such formal announcement of a Russian-Indonesian agreement on the location of military planes as of Tuesday evening. 

Security on Australia’s northern coast has taken up much headline space, with both the government and opposition unveiling policy on the Port of Darwin.

Both Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese have said they would take back control of the port from the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group during their election campaigns.