The Soviet Union established diplomatic relations with Indonesia in 1950 and is one of the very few countries to recognize Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands after the end of World War II. Early in the Cold War, both countries had robust relations, with Indonesian president Sukarno visiting Moscow and Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev visiting Jakarta. When Sukarno was overthrown by General Suharto, relations between the two states deteriorated, likely due to Indonesia's anti-communist policy under Suharto following the 1965 unrest. However, unlike relations with China during Suharto's rule, diplomatic relations were not suspended and remained intact. During this time, Indonesia is also one of many countries that boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow. Relations had been reported to be deteriorated further during the early days of Suharto's presidency due to widespread ideological stigma, and Indonesia became increasingly pro-Western in foreign and economic relations at the time. Following the 1979 Soviet–Afghan War, Indonesia's negative views of the Soviet Union significantly increased, with many Indonesians claiming it as a "communist crime against Muslims". In the 1980s, President Suharto visited the Soviet Union for the first time. The USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev began to develop closer ties with Indonesia alongside other Southeast Asian countries, and relations between were improving once again since the formation of the modern-day Russian Federation. Under Boris Yeltsin and later Vladimir Putin, relations were generally stable and continued to the presenting for Fully Mutual cooperation to understanding between two countries to forging the Special relationship from the Presidency of Megawati Soekarnoputri until the present.
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Contemporary relationship
In late 2007, Indonesia purchased military weapons from Russia with long term payment. Indonesian airlines also were considering purchasing the Sukhoi Superjet 100 from Russia, but a 2012 demonstration crash has put such talks on hold. Indonesia now says it could take as long as a year to analyze the flight data recorder recovered from the crash site. Separately, relations between the two countries are generally positive and stable, with seemingly improving contemporary and economic ties. Many Indonesians commonly perceive Russia as a country with whom they should cooperate more and develop closer ties. According to the Russian defence ministry, on 7 December 2017 two nuclear-capable Tu-95strategic bombers flew a patrol based from Biak Island in Papua, Indonesia. The Russian commander stated the navigation exercises were for the purpose of checking the accuracy of long-distance flying over the seas.
