Abstract

The war in Ukraine has been accompanied by a global campaign to shape narratives and undermine Western credibility, with Indonesia emerging as a key target in Southeast Asia. Russian narratives circulate through online platforms, proxy outlets, academic and cultural connections, and informal influencers, focusing on themes like non-alignment, sovereignty, and anti-colonial sentiment. This roundtable focuses on the case of Indonesia to examine how Russian narratives gain traction in domestic discourse, how local actors amplify or adapt them, and how they interact with Jakarta’s foreign policy positioning. The session will also situate Indonesia’s experience within broader Southeast Asian trends, highlighting the implications for ASEAN cohesion, regional information security, and Indonesia’s ability to preserve strategic autonomy.

About the Speaker

Radityo Dharmaputra is a lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga and a researcher at the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Universitas Airlangga. Radityo holds three master’s degrees from Airlangga (International Relations), Glasgow (Russia, Central, and East European Studies), and Tartu (Baltic Sea Region Studies). He is currently completing his PhD dissertation from the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies from the University of Tartu, Estonia. His research interests encompass Russian foreign policy in Asia, disinformation and influence operations, and the geopolitics of Europe and Eurasia, with a particular emphasis on their implications for Indonesia and Southeast Asia. His works have been published in Eurasian Geography and Economics, Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of Regional Security, and other academic journals, as well as book chapters published by Routledge.