Russian Sputnik Considers to Open Office in Indonesia, First in Southeast Asia

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The Sputnik media from Russia considers opening their office in Indonesia. Last month, the representative from Sputnik already came to Indonesia and met with the ministry of communications. 

According to the Russian embassy, they expect Sputnik to be their representation in this country of 273 million. They hope Sputnik can officially open in Indonesia this year or next year. 

"We currently don't have any representative of Russian news agencies. And we hope that Sputnik will be the first one," said Roman Romanov, head of political and bilateral affairs in the Russian Embassy Jakarta, Wednesday (12/4). 

State news agency Antara also met with the representation of Sputnik last month. 

Last year, around a week after Russia started to invade Ukraine, Sputnik was banned by the EU for spreading misinformation on Ukraine. The EU said Sputnik and Russian Today (RT) are under direct or indirect control of the Russian government. 

If Sputnik is really opening their office in Indonesia, Romanov said that it will be their first branch in Southeast Asia. 

The embassy said there has been no Russian media in Indonesia since the 1990s, although the culture-oriented Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH) is operating in Indonesia. Facebook and Instagram label RBTH Indonesia as Russia state-controlled media.

Currently, the Russian embassy said there are around fifty thousand Russians in Indonesia, many of them are in Bali.