February 8, 2022
JAKARTA – Indonesia is urging parties involved in the Ukraine-Russia crisis to exercise “utmost restraint” amid the buildup of Russian military forces near the Ukrainian border, sparking fears of a planned invasion.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Monday that Indonesia was following closely the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
“Indonesia calls upon all parties to exercise utmost restraint and to give maximum chance for dialogue and diplomacy to succeed. Conflict benefits no one,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Indonesia follows closely with great concern the recent situation in the borders between Ukraine and Russia.
Indonesia calls upon all parties to exercise utmost restraint and to give maximum chance for dialogue and diplomacy to succeed
Conflict benefits no one
— MoFA Indonesia (@Kemlu_RI) February 7, 2022
Some 131 Indonesians are currently living in Ukraine, the majority of whom (78) reside in the capital city Kyiv.
The ministry previously said that it was preparing contingency plans for Indonesians currently living in Ukraine and urged them to stay alert and report themselves to the Indonesian embassy in Kyiv so that the mission could keep tabs on them.
In the United States, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an attack on Ukraine within days or weeks.
“We are in the window. Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple of weeks from now, or Russia could choose to take the diplomatic path instead,” Sullivan told the Fox News Sunday program, as quoted by Reuters.
Sullivan’s comments came after two US officials on Saturday said Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has in place about 70 percent of the combat power it believes it would need for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
As Russia masses more than 100,000 troops near the border, Moscow has said it is not planning an invasion but could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.
The demands include a promise that NATO will never admit Ukraine, a demand the US and the 30-nation Western security alliance have called unacceptable.
However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Sunday urged people to ignore “apocalyptic predictions” about an imminent Russian invasion, saying his country was strong and had unprecedented international support, Reuters reported.
Indonesia maintains positive relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Previously, when it served as a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2019, Indonesia sought to promote confidence-building measures between the two countries to help them maintain peace.