Russian Govt never meddling in Indonesian politics: Lyudmila

Russian propaganda issue has no impact on diplomatic relations, Lyudmila says.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Georgievna Vorobieva said the statement of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) about Russian propaganda will not affect diplomatic relations between the two countries. She revealed that so far, the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Russia have been excelent.

"This issue has no impact on bilateral relations between the two countries, I see no reason for this relationship to go in a worse direction," Ambassador Lyudmila said at a press conference held at her residence on Wednesday (Feb 13).

Ambassador Lyudmila said she understand the condition of every country is always heated up ahead of elections. It could trigger emotions as well as many mistakes in making statements.

She also stressed that the Russian Government had never intervened in the domestic affairs of other countries, especially in the electoral process. Even though the relations between the two countries were fine, the Ambassador wanted Indonesian people not to misinterpret the term Russian Propaganda.

The term was actually born from the propaganda of the United States (US) and made by the Rand Corporation during the period of the 2016 US Presidential Election.

"The term is not based on reality, and is wrong," Ambassador Lyudmila said.

On February 4, the Russian Embassy in Indonesia had issued an official statement via official Twitter on Russian Propaganda to respond the statement of President Jokowi.

Ambassador Lyudmila said, a number of social media accounts of the Russian Embassy were attacked by negative comments from Indonesian people following Jokowi's statement. Therefore, the Embassy issued a statement and clarification through social media.

"People thought that it was as if Russia had intervened in Indonesian domestic affairs. So, we thought it was appropriate to spread clarification through Twitter and stressed that we will not meddling in Indonesian internal affairs," Ambassador Lyudmila said.

Meanwhile, Russia did not send a protest note to the Government of Indonesia. However, Russian representatives had met with Indonesian officials to discuss the matter.

"We already explained at the meeting, and I think this problem is over," Ambassador Lyudmila said.

President Jokowi has explained the Russian propaganda term that he used in his speech some time ago. According to him, the term Russian propaganda does not refer to a country, namely Russia. The term was taken from the Rand Corporation article namely "The Russian 'Firehose of Falsehood' Propaganda Model".

"Yes, we are not talking about the state, not the Russian state, but the terminology of the article in the Rand Corporation," Jokowi said after attending the 72nd anniversary of HMI in Jakarta, on Tuesday (Feb 5) night.

He explained, what was meant by Russian propaganda was the spread of hoaxes and lies in society. He assesed that hoaxes had negative influences on the community, and causing doubt.

Hoaxes were usually spread without being supported by concrete data. Jokowi also reiterated, the Russian propaganda term had nothing to do with Russia. He also said, his relationship with President Putin is currently in very good condition.

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