On September 3, after talks with his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh in the capital Ulaanbaatar, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that the two sides have similar positions on a number of world issues.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh during talks on September 3 in the capital Ulaanbaatar . (Source: TASS) |
TASS news agency quoted President Putin as stating that in many international issues, Russia and Mongolia share common stances and bilateral cooperation in the fields of defense and counter-terrorism contributes to ensuring security in Asia.
The Russian leader also added that Mongolians learn Russian from a young age, which opens up many opportunities for strengthening business, scientific and cultural ties between the two countries. Russia will continue to support the study of Russian in Mongolia, including in the border areas between the two countries.
Notably, according to the Russian leader, last year more than 90% of gasoline and diesel entering the Mongolian market came from Russia, and bilateral energy partnership is not limited to hydrocarbon exports.
Russia confirmed that it will continue to supply electricity to Mongolian consumers and is ready to implement joint projects in the field of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, based on the most modern and safe Russian technologies, including the use of small modular reactors.
For his part, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh thanked the Russian President for his official visit to the country, wishing to strengthen the close friendship between the people of the two countries.
He also affirmed that Mongolia wants to develop and expand interaction with Russia within the framework of the country's multifaceted foreign policy.
The Mongolian leader believes that the Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will create new opportunities for Mongolia to expand cooperation with Russia, help improve the legal environment for bilateral trade and create new concrete opportunities to expand economic cooperation.
During the visit, officials of the two countries signed five cooperation agreements on the supply of petroleum products, the supply of jet fuel to Mongolia, the development of a basic design for the CHP-3 combined heat and power plant renovation project in Ulaanbaatar, the provision of epidemic welfare, and a memorandum of understanding on the conservation of Lake Baikal and the Selenga River.
On September 3, Russian President Putin paid an official visit to Mongolia at the invitation of his counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. His last visit to Mongolia took place in 2019.
During this visit, President Putin also had meetings with Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene and Speaker of the Parliament Dashzegviin Amarbayasgalan.
The visit comes as the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin in 2023 over the conflict in Ukraine, which Moscow rejected. Mongolia has signed the Rome Statute of the ICC, which requires the arrest warrant to be carried out if Putin visits its territory upon request from the ICC.
However, just before the visit, on August 30, the Kremlin said that Russia was not worried about Mongolia arresting Mr. Putin under this order and that “every aspect of the visit is being carefully prepared.”
President Putin's visit to Mongolia has drawn strong reactions from Ukraine. Kiev has accused Ulaanbaatar of being partly responsible for Mongolian police officers failing to arrest Putin at the airport.
Meanwhile, Lithuania also said that the Russian President's visit to Mongolia "is another example of the rift in international relations" and Vilnius expressed dissatisfaction with the representative of the East Asian country's government.
According to Lithuania, this is “not a final call” and the Nordic and Baltic countries “are still working on a joint statement within the European Union (EU)”.
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