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Indonesia Urges Russia to Stop Recruiting Its Citizens Into Ukraine War

In recent months, reports have surfaced of Indonesian nationals fighting on the frontlines in occupied Ukraine.

Destruction in Kyiv, Ukraine, after a Russian attack on May 15, 2026.

Indonesia has officially urged Russia to stop recruiting Indonesian citizens into its armed forces following a report last week that an Indonesian national was killed while fighting in Ukraine.

According to a report in the state news agency Antara, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yvonne Mewengkang said on Sunday that Jakarta had conveyed its objection to Moscow through diplomatic channels.

“The Indonesian government has asked the Russian government to take the necessary steps to ensure that Indonesian citizens are not recruited into the Russian military or other military-related formations through any channel,” Yvonne said.

She added that Jakarta had asked Moscow to formally designate Indonesia as a country whose nationals are excluded from military recruitment, which other nations, including India, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and South Africa, have already done.

The past year has seen growing numbers of Indonesians drawn into the Russian army. As per Antara, the move came after Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported on October 27 that an Indonesian identified by the initials MT, born in 1978 and formerly employed as a taxi driver in Jakarta, had been killed on the frontline in Ukraine. The man “reportedly signed a one-year military contract but was killed approximately one week after being deployed to the battlefield,” it reported.

Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (FISU) also said on August 27 that it had documents on at least eight Indonesians who were recruited into Russia’s army. It stated that Indonesia “has joined the list of countries that the Kremlin has turned into yet another source of cheap manpower for the war.”

As Radityo Dharmaputra wrote in a recent feature for The Diplomat, in many cases these people have been attracted to Russia by the........

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