Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

–

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

relations have been traditionally strong since the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

era, when the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

supported the

Mongolian People's Republic The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) was a socialist state that existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia. Its independence was officially recognized by the Nationalist government of Republic of China (1912� ...

. Mongolia and Russia remain allies in the post-communist era. Russia has an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

and two consulates general (in Darkhan and

Erdenet Erdenet (; , 'precious, valuable') is the third-largest city in Mongolia and the provincial capital of Orkhon. Located in the northern Mongolia, it lies in a valley between the Selenge and Orkhon rivers about ( as the crow flies) northwest o ...

). Mongolia has an embassy in Moscow, three consulates general (in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

Kyzyl Kyzyl ( ) is the capital city of the Republic of Tuva within the Russian Federation. Kyzyl's population is approximately History The city was founded in 1914 as Belotsarsk. It was renamed Hem-Beldir from 1918 to 1926. When the city was the ca ...

and

Ulan Ude Ulan-Ude (; , ; , ) is the capital city of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga. According to the 2021 Census, 437,565 people lived in Ulan-Ude; up from 404,426 recorded ...

), and a branch in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

. Both countries are full members of the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(Russia is a participating state, while Mongolia is a partner). According to a 2017 survey, 90% of Mongolians have a favorable view of Russia (38% "strongly" and 52% "somewhat" favorable), with 8% expressing a negative view (2% "strongly" and 6% "somewhat" unfavorable).

Background

Russia and Mongolia share a 3,500-kilometer border. When Chinese forces attacked Mongolia in 1919 to negate its independence from China, the Russian Asiatic Cavalry Division commanded by

Roman von Ungern-Sternberg Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (; 10 January 1886 – 15 September 1921), often referred to as Roman von Ungern-Sternberg or Baron Ungern, was an anti-communist general in the Russian Civil War and then an independent wa ...

helped Mongolia ward off the invasion. The

was established in 1921 with Soviet military support and under Soviet influence. Russian embassy in Ulan Bator 2

Historical relations

The Soviet Union supported the

Mongolian Revolution of 1921 The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 was a military and political event by which Mongolian revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, expelled Russian White movement, White Guards from the country, and founded the Mongolian People' ...

which brought the

Mongolian People's Party The Mongolian People's Party (MPP) is a social democratic political party in Mongolia. It was founded as a communist party in 1920 by Mongolian revolutionaries and is the oldest political party in Mongolia. The party played an important role ...

(later the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party) to powerBalazs Szalontai, "From the Demolition of Monasteries to the Installation of Neon Lights: The Politics of Urban Construction in the Mongolian People's Republic" in ''Sites of Modernity: Asian Cities in the Transitory Moments of Trade, Colonialism, and Nationalism'' (ed. Wasana Wongsurawat), pp. 165-66. as the ruling party of the

(MPR), established in 1924.Morris Rossabi, ''Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists'' (University of California Press, 2005), pp. 31-37. Over the next seventy years, Mongolia "pursued policies in imitation of the devised by the USSR" as a Soviet

satellite state A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting a larger ob ...

. Mongolian supreme leader

Khorloogiin Choibalsan Khorloogiin Choibalsan (8 February 1895 – 26 January 1952) was a Mongolian politician who served as the leader of the Mongolian People's Republic as the Prime Minister of Mongolia, chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) from 1939 unt ...

, acting under Soviet instructions, carried out a mass terror from 1936 to 1952 (see

Stalinist repressions in Mongolia The Stalinist repressions in Mongolia () was an 18-month period of heightened political violence and persecution in the Mongolian People's Republic between 1937 and 1939. The repressions were an extension of the Stalinist purges (also known as ...

), with the greatest number of arrests and executions (targeting in particular the Buddhist clergy) occurring between September 1937 and November 1939. Soviet influences pervaded Mongolian culture throughout the period, and schools through the nation, as well as the

National University of Mongolia The National University of Mongolia () is a public university primarily located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Established in 1942, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Mongolia, and was originally named in honour of then-Prime Minist ...

, emphasized Marxism-Leninism. Nearly every member of the Mongolian political and technocratic elite, as well as many members of the cultural and artistic elite, were educated in the USSR or one of its Eastern European allies. The Mongolian economy was heavily reliant on the Soviet bloc for

electric power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

, trade, and investment. The MPR collapsed in 1990 and the first democratically elected government took office the same year, leading to "a wedge in the previously close relationship between Mongolia and the Soviet bloc." After 1992, Russian technical aid stopped, and Russia made a request to Mongolia to pay back all the aid which it had received from the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1990, a figure which the Soviets estimated at 11.6 billion transferable roubles (disputed by the Mongolians). The communist regimes of Mongolia and the USSR forged close bilateral relations and cooperation. Both nations established close industrial and trade links, especially with the Soviet republics in Central Asia and Mongolia consistently supported the Soviet Union on international issues. Mongolia sought Russian aid to allay fears of Chinese expansionism and a large number of Soviet forces were permanently deployed in Mongolia. In 1986, both countries signed a treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation. Mongolia sided with the Soviet Union following the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

in the 1950s. Following the example of Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

's policy of improving ties with the West and China, Mongolia improved its

relations Relation or relations may refer to: General uses * International relations, the study of interconnection of politics, economics, and law on a global level * Interpersonal relationship, association or acquaintance between two or more people * ...

with the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and China. In 1989, Mongolia and the Soviet Union finalized plans for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Mongolia.

Political relations

Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

and the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Mongolia's trade with Russia declined by 80% and China's relations and influence over Mongolia increased. However, Russia has sought to rebuild strong relations with Mongolia in recent years to enhance its standing as a

regional power In international relations, regional power, since the late 20thcentury, has been used for a sovereign state that exercises significant power within its geographical region.Joachim Betz, Ian Taylor"The Rise of (New) Regional Powers in Asia, ...

. In 2000, then Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

made a landmark visit to Mongolia —the first by a Russian

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

since

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

in 1974 and one of the first of Putin's presidency— and renewed a major bilateral treaty. The visit and improvement in bilateral relations was popularly welcomed in Mongolia as countering China's influence. Russia lowered the prices of oil and energy exports to Mongolia and enhanced cross-border trade. The Russian government wrote off 98% of Mongolia's state debt and an agreement was signed to build an oil pipeline from Russia to China through Mongolia. In March 2022, Mongolia abstained from the UN vote to condemn the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In September 2022, Russian President

attended the military exercise in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

. Beyond Russian troops, the exercises also included military forces from Mongolia, among others. Meeting with President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh

Meeting with President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh

Due to Mongolia being a signatory of the

Rome Statute The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

, Putin could be placed under arrest by the Mongolian authorities if he sets foot on Mongolian territory. This was issued on 17 March 2023, as the ICC has issued an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

for Putin due to his alleged role of the unlawful deportation and transfer of children amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In advance of a visit by Putin to Mongolia on 3 September 2024, the International Criminal Court stated that Mongolia was obligated to place Putin under arrest. After failure to make the arrest, Mongolia was described as complicit in Putin's war crimes. Most prominent economic collaboration between Russia and Mongolia is the

Power of Siberia 2 The Power of Siberia 2 (also known as Altai gas pipeline) is a proposed natural gas pipeline to export natural gas from Russia's Western Siberia Altai region to North-Eastern China. History The memorandum on deliveries of Russian natural gas to ...

natural gas pipeline, construction of which is expected to begin in 2024. The planned 2,600 km pipeline connecting Russia and China via Mongolia will have a capacity of 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year and could be operational by 2030, generating transit fees and gas supplies for Mongolia. On September 3, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia, where he was welcomed with a red carpet reception despite an ICC arrest warrant related to alleged

war crimes in Ukraine War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organize ...

. The visit emphasized Mongolia's close relationship with Russia, with discussions on energy initiatives such as the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, reflecting Mongolia's strategic balancing act between Russia and China. In March 2025, Mongolia's Deputy Prime Minister Gantumur Luvsannyam confirmed ongoing negotiations for the

pipeline, which would deliver Russian natural gas to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

through Mongolia, further deepening Mongolia's involvement in energy transit between its two powerful neighbors. However, tensions have occasionally arisen, notably when former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, in 2022, urged ethnic minorities in Russia, such as

Buryats The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their ti ...

Kalmyks Kalmyks (), archaically anglicised as Calmucks (), are the only Mongolic ethnic group living in Europe, residing in the easternmost part of the European Plain. This dry steppe area, west of the lower Volga River, known among the nomads as ...

, and Tuvins, to flee and seek refuge in Mongolia instead of joining the Russian military in its war against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Elbegdorj, a proponent of Ukraine and critic of Russian actions, framed his appeal as humanitarian, but it raised concerns in Moscow about foreign interference. Despite Mongolia’s balancing act between Russia and China, as well as its cautious support for Ukraine, it remains committed to maintaining stable relations with Russia, as evidenced by President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh’s 2024 welcome of

State visits

From Soviet and Russian leaders to Mongolia

(13-15 January 1966) *

(November 1974) *

(2000) *

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

(2-3 September 2009) *

(2-3 September 2014) *

(2-3 September 2019) *

(2-3 September 2024)

From Mongolian leaders to Russia

Damdin Sükhbaatar Damdin Sükhbaatar (2 February 1893 – 20 February 1923) was a Mongolian revolutionary, founding member of the Mongolian People's Party, and leader of the Mongolian partisan army that took Khüree during the Mongolian Revolution of 19 ...

(1921) *

Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat (; 23 January 1942 – 17 January 2025) was a Mongolian politician and a member of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia. He served as a president of Mongolia from 1990 to 1997 first as Chairman of the Presidium of the Peop ...

(1993) *

Natsagiin Bagabandi Natsagiin Bagabandi (; born 22 April 1950) is a Mongolian politician who served as the 2nd President of Mongolia from 1997 to 2005. He won the 1997 presidential election and subsequently the 2001 presidential election, serving a total of two t ...

(1999) *

( 9 May 2005) *

Nambaryn Enkhbayar Nambaryn Enkhbayar (, ; born 1 June 1958) is a Mongolian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 2000 to 2004, as Chairman of the State Great Khural from 2004 to 2005, and as President of Mongolia from 2005 to 2009. He is ...

(2006) *

(2008) *

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (; born 30 March 1963) is a Mongolian politician and journalist who served as President of Mongolia from 2009 to 2017. He previously served as prime minister in 1998 and again from 2004 to 2006. Elbegdorj was one of the k ...

( 9 May 2010) *

(31 May 2011) *

( 9 May 2015) *

Khaltmaagiin Battulga Khaltmaagiin Battulga ( ), also referred to as Battulga Khaltmaa (; born 3 March 1963), is a Mongolian politician and sambo wrestler who served as the 5th President of Mongolia from 2017 to 2021. He served as Member of the State Great Khural fr ...

(7 September 2017) *

Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh (; born 14 June 1968), also referred to as Khürelsükh Ukhnaa, is a Mongolian politician who has been the sixth president of Mongolia since 2021. He previously served as the 30th Prime Minister of Mongolia, prime minist ...

(8 May 2025)

Gallery

File:Vladimir Putin in Mongolia 13-14 November 2000-3.jpg, Natsagiyn Bagabandi with

in 2000 File:Vladimir Putin with Nambaryn Enkhbayar-2.jpg,

with

in 2005 File:Dmitry Medvedev in Mongolia August 2009-9.jpg, Dmitry Medvedev with Tsakhiagiin Elbedorj in 2009 File:Vladimir Putin and Khaltmaagiin Battulga (2017-08-28).jpg,

with Vladimir Putin in 2017

References

External links

*
Documents on the Mongolia–Russia relationship at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Diplomatic missions

*
Embassy of Russia in Ulan Batar
*
Embassy of Mongolia in Moscow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mongolia-Russia relations

Bilateral relations of Russia