Putin arrives in Mongolia for the first time since the war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Mongolia for the first time since the war in Ukraine. It is the fifth visit of Putin. Vladimir Putin and the Mongolian president U.Khurelsukh are to attend a ceremony on Tuesday marking the 1939 victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China. Thousands of soldiers died in months of fighting in a dispute over where the border was between Manchuria and Mongolia.

This year marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of the Khalkh River, the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Ulaanbaatar Railway Association, a joint venture between Mongolia and Russia, and the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Agreement on Friendly Relations and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Mongolia and the Russian Federation.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had arrived for a state visit in Mongolia, which lies on the route of a planned new gas pipeline connecting Russia and China.

Russia has been in talks for years about building the pipeline to carry 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year from its Yamal region to China via Mongolia.

The project, Power of Siberia 2, is part of Russia’s strategy to compensate for the loss of most of its gas sales in Europe since the start of the Ukraine war. It is the planned successor to an existing pipeline of the same name which already supplies Russian gas to China and is due to reach its planned capacity of 38 bcm per year in 2025.