Air parade clip falsely portrayed as Russian military in Indonesia

Published on May 6, 2025 at 11:07
3 min read
By Felix NATHANIEL, AFP Indonesia

As rumours swirled about Russia's alleged proposal to station military jets in Indonesia's Papua province, claims both countries have denied, footage surfaced in posts that falsely claimed it showed Russian aircraft arriving in the Southeast Asian nation in April 2025. The video has previously circulated in posts since 2022 about a Russian military parade in St Petersburg.

"The arrival of Russian bomber jets in Indonesia," reads the Indonesian-language text overlaid on an April 16, 2025 TikTok video. "These Russian bombers will maintain security in Papua from interference by America and Australia."

The post's caption similarly claims the aircraft were intended to help thwart potential attacks in the Papua province, located close to the northern tip of Australia.

The featured video shows fighter jets flying in formation, followed by a clip of President Prabowo Subianto meeting Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post, taken on May 5, 2025

Similar videos on TikTok and SnackVideo racked up more than two million views after defence publication Janes reported on April 14 that Moscow had asked Jakarta for permission to station Russian aircraft at a military facility in Papua (archived link).

Officials from both countries had denied the claim, according to a report from Indonesia's state-run Antara news agency (archived link).

Comments on the posts indicated some people believed the clip shows the arrival of Russian troops. "Welcome, Russia," one wrote, while another said: "Come quickly, Mr. Putin."

But a combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Google found that the video was uploaded on YouTube on August 1, 2022 with the caption: "Tu-95 strategic bomber-missile Carrier - Navy Day in St Petersburg Russia" (archived link).

Another clip shared on July 31, 2022 also shows a similar aircraft parade from a different angle (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the old YouTube video

Further searches also show the footage of Prabowo's meeting with Putin was taken on July 31, 2024 -- after Prabowo was elected as president but was still serving as the defence minister.

AFP published a picture showing the same scene on the day (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and an AFP photo showing the same scene

The Russian and Indonesian governments both published photos of the meeting (archived here and here).

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