In today's #dailysoup, I'll introduce a former Indonesian ambassador to Russia and Kremlin mouthpiece, Mohamad Wahid Supriyadi.
He is best known for his pro-Russia peepotalking remarks and his encouragement of sanctions evasion in buying Russian jets.
1/21
During the 1990s and 2000s, Supriyadi served in a couple of Indonesian diplomatic posts at Australia and the UAE.
Meanwhile, he also served in various positions at Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then from 2016-20, he became Indonesia's ambassador to Russia.
2/21
However, there was one time in 2002 when Indonesia refused to renew the work visa of Lindsay Murdoch, which was condemned as the "first prohibition of a foreign journo in the post-Soeharo era".
Supriyandi denied that Jakarta's move vs Murdoch would hurt press freedoms.
3/21
During Supriyadi's tenure as Indonesian ambassador to Russia, he did the typical diplomat-y stuff of visiting Russian officials, especially to bolster cooperation between both countries.
However, one of them involved encouraging a deal with a sanctioned Russian company.
4/21
In the late 2010s, Supriyadi was present when Jakarta planned to buy Russian subs and signed a contract with Rostec to buy Russian Su-35 jets, stating that it is in the "final stage".
Rostec has been placed under sanctions since 2014 cuz of the Russian theft of Crimea.
5/21
When Indonesia's purchase of the Russian SU-35 fighter jets continue to push through, Supriyadi claimed to "acknowledge US pressures to prevent Indonesia from buying Russian jets", but at the same time,...
6/21
...Supriyadi insisted on something like "we don't care about sanctions cuz we can decide this by ourselves and this is a part of our internal matters", expressing confidence that "the Russian jets would be delivered", thus indicating encouragement of sanctions evasion.
7/21
Meanwhile, Supriyadi was present in Indonesia's deal with Rosatom to build a nuclear power plant at the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, located at the western side of Borneo.
Rosatom is founded by Putin himself, and one of its subsidiaries is in the sanctions list.
8/21
Although one of its subsidiaries is in the sanctions list, Rosatom itself remains free of sanctions, and it is known for giving the "nuclear keys" to China's nuke expansion.
It also helped Russian forces capture the Zaporizhzhia and Chornobyl nuclear power plants.
9/21
Supriyadi was also present in Prabowo Subianto's deal meetings with Moscow to purchase Russian jets in 2020, as well as Prabowo's meeting with Sergey Shoigu on the same year to "bolster defence and military cooperation between Russia and Indonesia".
10/21
After finishing his tenure as Indonesia's ambassador to Russia, Supriyadi became a news writer in various outlets and a resource person in various seminars x webinars. He even wrote a book.
However, the current Indonesian ambassador to Russia, Jose Tavares,...
11/21
...told Supriyadi to do something like "continuing to support Russia" even after his tenure is already finished.
In November 2020, he presented his book, "The Lighter and Funnier Side of Diplomacy", during a webinar with MGIMO, which discussed his past diplomatic career.
12/21
During the webinar, Supriyadi peepotalked about the claim that "Islam entered Russia first through Dagestan", which is similar to the claim from another Indonesian academic vatnik, Ahmad Fahrurodji. Read more here:
13/21
One month after 02/24, Supriyadi bought into the "NATO-caused-the-war-in-Ukraine" peepotalking remark, calling Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia as "buffer states", adding that "...if NATO is there, there is military equipment in the door, geopolitically this is a threat".
14/21
Then, Supriyadi engaged in pro-Russia peepotalking remarks like "NATO broke its promise to not expand eastwards in the 1990s" and "NATO's Bucharest Summit angered Putin".
He also blamed Saakashvili for "provoking Putin to invade Georgia in 2008" by "being pro-NATO".
15/21
Moreover, Supriyadi bought into the "Putin-does-not-intend-to-invade-Ukraine" peepotalking remark, with some of his articles using the infamous term "special military operation", as well as the term "military action", to refer to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
16/21
During the first few months of the invasion, Supriyadi wrote a pro-Russia article with the main basis coming from a notorious academic vatnik, John Mearsheimer, especially his claim that "Russia is losing patience cuz NATO expansion is reaching Ukraine and Georgia".
17/21
In the article, Supriyadi peepotalked about his claim that "the war in Ukraine broke out cuz Ukraine ignored the warnings to not join NATO". He added that "Russia has reminded Ukraine to stop dreaming of NATO membership" and "Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia joining NATO...
18/21
...are threats to Russia that should not be allowed".
Although Supriyadi acknowledged Russia's disappointing performance in its invasion of Ukraine, he claimed that Zelenskyy appears to be "miscalculated" and "mistaken".
19/21
Worse, Supriyadi spewed a very blatant pro-Russia peepotalking remark when he suggested that "Russia will stop its invasion if Ukraine either surrenders, declares neutrality, doesn't enter NATO, or allows Zelenskyy to get replaced with a pro-Russia government".
20/21
So far, I didn't see any results on Supriyandi's stances on Russia's war crimes in Ukraine, particularly the ones at Bucha and Izyum.
His pro-Russia peepotalking points are debunked by @P_Kallioniemi's #vatniksoup, especially this entry:
21/21
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Related entries:
Prabowo Subianto -
Sergey Shoigu (#vatniksoup) -
Russian narratives (#vatniksoup) -
Similar entries:
Connie Bakrie -
Clarita Carlos -
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan -
Shoutouts:
@P_Kallioniemi, @Aaron_MatthewIL, @outlierplanet, @wndprj, @RadityoDharmaP, @Trystanto2
If you have any additional info, feel free to comment below.
This is Phase 1, Entry 27 of the #dailysoup. Feel free to read the previous entries here 👇
bit.ly/thedailysoup
APPENDIX: Supriyandi also came up with the suggestion of "Ukrainian neutraity", claiming that "NATO has been reluctant to help Ukraine".
Contrary to Supriyandi's claims, NATO countries are assisting the Ukrainian heroes by providing them military equipment like HIMARS.
1/2
In the same article, Supriyandi suggested that "Ukraine should join the Eurasian Economic Union so that Russia could economically assist the country".
Note that the Eurasian Economic Union is supported by Putin and it is a part of Russia's imperialistic efforts.
2/2
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