Indonesia denied it, Russia didn't comment on it and Australia seemed surprised about it.
Moscow's relationship with Jakarta is in the spotlight, after a report claimed the Kremlin had asked to station war planes at an air base 1,200 kilometres from Darwin.
The story, published by global military intelligence agency Janes, dominated Australia's federal election discourse on Tuesday afternoon.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles both scrambled to get specifics, with the latter eventually clarifying it wasn't going to happen.
But deepening military ties between Indonesia and Russia are not new: in fact, diplomats from both countries have been speaking about them for years.
In October, Moscow's ambassador to Jakarta, Sergei Tolchenov, told Russian state-run news agency TASS that military cooperation was "integral" to the countries' relations.
"For obvious reasons, I probably will not name any specific topics and projects now," he said.
"But we are working quietly in this direction. Business, diplomacy, and especially the military-technical sphere love silence.
"I am sure that there will be substantive agreements."
Russia and Indonesia have a warm relationship and held naval exercises in the Java Sea late last year.
"These are our bilateral affairs, and we, in general, do not care how some third countries feel about this," Mr Tolchenov told TASS.
He said partnerships such as AUKUS and the Quad, which includes Australia, India, Japan and the United States, were threats to the security of the region.
"We see that our Indonesian partners accept our arguments," he said.
"Of course, there are countries in this region that are ready to do everything that NATO or the Americans tell them, but most of the ASEAN member countries, including Indonesia, are pursuing an independent policy, they absolutely do not like this NATO line, it does not suit them."
The Janes report claimed Moscow had issued an official request to base Russian aircraft at the Manuhua Air Force Base at Biak Numfor in the Indonesian province of Papua.
In 2017, Russia flew two nuclear-capable bombers on a patrol mission out of the base on what appeared to be an intelligence gathering exercise.
On Tuesday, Indonesian military spokesperson Brigadier General Frega Ferdinand Wenas Inkiriwang said the Janes report was "not true".
The Kremlin declined to comment on the specifics of the story, but spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "There are a lot of different pieces of fake news around, publications in the media, including those that relate to sensitive areas."
Indonesia and Russia hold regular bilaterals. In fact, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov arrived in Indonesia with a Russian delegation earlier this week for what's been billed as a business summit.
Jakarta's embassy in Moscow marked the meeting with a post on the encrypted messaging service Telegram that finished: "In the context of global geopolitical instability, Indonesia and Russia are using the moment to deepen cooperation and develop diplomatic ties."
In July last year, Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted Prabowo Subianto, who was Indonesia's defence minister and president-elect at the time, in Moscow.
During the meeting, Russian media outlet REN TV reported "special attention" was given to military cooperation.
The prospect of a Russian military base in South-East Asia has been discussed previously.
In 2017, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti published an interview with Indonesia's then-ambassador to Moscow, Wahid Supriyadi, who was asked what he thought about the idea.
"In my opinion, this — the creation of a military base — cannot happen, since any aggressive actions in South-East Asia are prohibited by out principles, our constitution," he said.
The US has a growing military presence in Darwin, something Russia has previously criticised.
