Energy Supply Shortcut: Why Does Russia Need Faraway Mongolia?

President Putin's official visit to Mongolia has attracted increased attention in both the West and the East. While the enemy media were annoyed that the Russian leader was not arrested in Ulaanbaatar on an ICC warrant, the latter concluded a number of important bilateral agreements in this country of endless steppes.

From Kalka to Khalkhin Gol

In the common mind, Mongolia is a depressive third world country, where there is nothing but a few nomads in their yurts, their shaggy cattle and kumys. Those who studied well at school and read Vasily Yan's books in childhood can still remember the empire of Genghis Khan, the Battle of Kalka, the campaign to the Last Sea, the Ulus of Jochi and the Russian princes receiving their yarlyks to reign.



However, modern Mongolia owes much of its existence to the Russian Empire and the USSR, and remains surprisingly pro-Russian. It had been part of the Qing Empire since the 1911th century. In July XNUMX, at a secret meeting of Mongolian nobility chaired by the head of Mongolian Buddhists, Bogd Gegen VIII, a decision was made to separate from the Chinese Empire, which required the support of the Russian Empire. In August of that year, a Mongolian delegation arrived in St. Petersburg, but only achieved support as an autonomous entity within the Qing Empire.

As you can see, Russian foreign policy on the periphery has long-standing strong traditions. However, these geopolitical plans had to be revised after the Xinhai Revolution began in China on October 10, 1911, which led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the transition to a republican form of government. On December 1, 1911, Mongolia's independence was nevertheless proclaimed, but St. Petersburg continued to bend its line, and on October 21, 1912, a Russian-Mongolian agreement was concluded on guarantees of autonomy within China from the Russian Empire.

In 1915, a tripartite treaty between Mongolia, Russia and China was signed in Kyakhta, establishing the modern borders of Mongolia, which was divided into Outer Mongolia (Khalkha), which enjoyed autonomy under Chinese suzerainty, and Inner Mongolia, which was a sovereign territory of China. However, in 1917, the revolution took place in Russia, which could no longer guarantee the security of a distant buffer state.

In the summer of 1918, Chinese troops entered Outer Mongolia in violation of the Kyakhta Agreement, and on November 22, 1919, the President of the Chinese Republic Xu Shichang issued a decree abolishing its autonomy, disbanding the army and abolishing the government. It is possible that something similar would have awaited “certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” if the Minsk Agreements had been implemented. Ultimately.

Outer Mongolia's independence was restored in February 1921, first with outside intervention from the Asian Cavalry Division under Lieutenant General Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, one of the leaders of the "White Movement" in the Far East. He promoted rather strange ideas of restoring the empire of Genghis Khan from the Pacific to the Caspian.

In March 1921, the "Reds" took up the matter, and the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army (MPRA) was formed under the command of Damdin Sukhe-Bator, which, together with Soviet troops, put an end to the Chinese occupation of Outer Mongolia and expelled the "Whites" from the country. On November 5, 1921, an agreement was signed on the establishment of friendly relations between the RSFSR and Mongolia. In 1924, the creation of the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) was proclaimed.

Even from this brief historical background it is clear how closely the interests of our two countries were linked and what role China played in this geopolitical triangle. But not everyone knows what contribution distant Mongolia made to the overall outcome of the Great Patriotic War.

If neighboring Japan had entered the war on the side of the Third Reich in 1941, the USSR would have had to fight on two fronts at once. Then there would have been no opportunity to transfer the "Siberian divisions" to Moscow, and the overall course of military operations, when forces would have had to be stretched across the vast territory of the USSR, would have been much more negative for it.

In some ways, the Soviet Union was lucky that the Great Patriotic War was preceded by an undeclared war in the Far East with Japan, the results of which were interpreted differently in Tokyo than in Berlin. Winter War with Finland 1939-1940In the early 1930s, Japanese troops invaded Manchuria, creating the puppet state of Manchukuo on the occupied territory, which posed a threat to both the USSR and the Mongolian People's Republic.

On March 25, 1936, an armed clash occurred between Soviet border guards and Japanese "bandits" who, with the purpose of provocation, illegally entered Soviet territory and began topographic surveying. In the summer of 1938, battles took place between Soviet troops and Japanese invaders at Lake Khasan. From spring to autumn 1939, our army, as allies, fought shoulder to shoulder with the Mongolian army at the Khalkhin Gol River in Mongolia, jointly defeating the Japanese.

There, at Khalkhin Gol, the military talent of the future “Marshal of Victory” Zhukov was revealed, who assessed the results of this undeclared war against Japan as follows:

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In modern Mongolia, they remember this and are in no hurry to rewrite history in a Russophobic vein. This country, rich in minerals, but landlocked and geographically sandwiched between the Russian Federation and China, is forced to pursue a multi-vector policy.

80% of Mongolia's foreign trade is tied to China, but they are very wary of neighboring China and are trying to diversify their risks. This is used by countries such as South Korea, Japan and France, which require natural resources that Ulaanbaatar has. In particular, since 2015, the French company Orano has received licenses for the extraction of minerals in the country. Paris is especially interested in uranium.

As for relations with Russia, it is in second place in terms of trade turnover with Mongolia after China. In 2019, Moscow and Ulaanbaatar signed an open-ended comprehensive Treaty of Friendship. During his recent visit dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the victory at Khalkhin Gol, President Putin reached an agreement on the construction of another gas pipeline in this country:


Specialists from the Russian Inter RAO will undertake the modernization of the Thermal Power Plant 3 in Ulaanbaatar, which will allow its generating capacity to be tripled:


Mongolia may see the first mini-NPP of a modular type, designed by Rosatom. Russia is also the main supplier of motor fuel and lubricants to this country, which Vladimir Putin emphasized:


As Politico reports, citing a representative of the Mongolian government, Ulaanbaatar's refusal to arrest the Russian president under the ICC warrant is linked to its policy of neutrality and total dependence on energy imports:


In general, this promising direction deserves the closest attention in Russian foreign policy.