Moscow's deal with Jakarta to ship Russian Su-35 fighter jets to Indonesia is still alive, Sergey Tolchenov, Russia’s ambassador to the republic, said in an interview to the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

"The [Su-35 deal] is not canceled. It is still on the table," the diplomat noted. "We will continue the negotiations one day."

The envoy expressed hope that Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s military background could move bilateral relations in the defense sector in a positive direction. "I hope [that our defense ties will grow stronger], but it is an important aspect of our bilateral relations. We also see the Indonesian [military] use Russian arms, and this proves that we have really high-quality arms. If Indonesia is interested, we are ready to negotiate," Tolchenov noted.

In late December 2021, CNN Indonesia reported that the Indonesian government had abandoned its plans to purchase 11 Russian-made Su-35 multirole fighters due to a lack of funds. News about the signing of a $1.1 billion contract with Jakarta for the delivery of 11 Su-35 fighter jets became known in early 2018. In July 2019, Mohamad Wahid Supriyadi, who was Indonesia’s ambassador to Russia at the time, said that the delay in the implementation of the contract was due to the complexity of the trade scheme, which involved both government agencies and companies.

In March 2020, Bloomberg reported that Indonesian authorities decided to give up on plans to implement the Su-35 contract with Russia due to a lack of funds in the budget caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as due to threats from the US to impose sanctions on Indonesia if the contract was implemented.