REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Airlangga Hartarto, chairman of the Golkar Party, has clarified that incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo (Jokowi) did not accuse Russia of meddling in the Indonesian presidential election. The statement's context is not inter-countries, Hartarto stated here, Monday evening.

Hartarto added that one country indeed should not meddle in the political process of another nation. He explained that Jokowi's statement on Russia-style propaganda refers to the dissemination of fake news and slanders directed majorly toward Jokowi, and such methods were identical to those applied by Russian political consultants.

Jokowi recently said his rival, who had so far accused him of being a henchman of a foreign party, used a foreign political consultant to spread slander. The incumbent stated that they had used Russian-style propaganda by spreading lies and slander incessantly. Such methods could divide the community, Jokowi stated.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in Jakarta has stressed that Russia does not intervene in the Indonesian presidential election. The embassy was responding to a statement by Jokowi in Solo, Central Java, on Sunday that the one using a foreign consultant in politics tended to not think of the impact on the people, one of them being through the theory of Russian propaganda.

On its official Twitter account @RusEmbJakarta on Monday, the embassy said the term "Russian propaganda" was engineered in the United States in 2016 within the framework of the presidential election campaign. According to the Russian government, the term was by no means based on reality.

"We underline that the principal position of Russia is to not intervene in the internal affairs and electoral processes of other countries, including Indonesia, which is our close friend and important partner. -- Russian Embassy, IDN (@RusEmbJakarta) February 4, 2019," the Russian Embassy tweeted.

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