Strategic Juggling Act

Mongolia, a nation with abundant mineral wealth, has emerged in recent days as a showcase for U.S.-Russian rivalry. The Mongolian military has found itself in the unusual position of participating in separate joint exercises involving U.S. and Russian troops going on at the same time.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived for a two-day visit the same day as a U.S.-led, six-country peacekeeping exercise was wrapping up at a training center outside Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia and Russia inked several agreements during the pomp-filled official visit. But the bevy of signings does not mean that Mongolia is about to reenter Russia's sphere of influence, Mongolian analysts say.

MEDVEDEV VISIT HIGHLIGHTS TRADITIONAL TIES

During Medvedev's 25-26 August visit, Russia and Mongolia agreed to start a joint venture to mine the rich uranium deposit in Dornod, northeastern Mongolia, near the Russian border. The two countries also discussed the possibility of a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Mongolia, and carried out a military exercise.

Medvedev's visit was also loaded with symbolism, as it included a commemoration of the 1939 battle at Khalkhin Gol, when a joint Soviet-Mongolian force defeated Japanese troops, decisively ending Japan's ambitions against the Soviets in World War II. At the end of his visit, Medvedev and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj laid wreaths at a World War II monument in Ulaanbaatar. Medvedev and Elbegdorj both invoked history in describing their current ties. "History is such a stubborn thing that can be neither forgotten nor changed," Medvedev said. Meanwhile, Elbegdorj commented that Russian-Mongolian ties had been "sealed by the blood and sweat of our peoples."

But the closeness of Russian-Mongolian ties should not be overstated, said Colonel Galsanjamts, a foreign policy expert at Ulaanbaatar's Institute for Strategic Studies. He was quick to point out that Mongolia and Japan signed an agreement on nuclear energy in May, and that Ulaanbaatar also cooperates on uranium with France, Canada, and China. "We are not going to sell all our uranium to Russia," Galsanjamts said.

The Mongolian-Russian training, dubbed Darkhan 2, is also less significant than it might otherwise seem. Much of it involves repairing Mongolian equipment. Although the two countries billed it as a peacekeeping exercise, similar to the just-concluded U.S.-led Khaan Quest 2009, that only means that the units whose equipment is being repaired are peacekeeping units, said Jargalsaihan Mendee, another analyst and a former Mongolian defense attaché in Washington. About 90 percent of the equipment of the Mongolian armed forces is of Soviet origin, and the spare parts are available only in Russia, Mendee said.

Darkhan 2 began on 23 August. According to the Mongolian news agency Montsame, the exercise involves 400 Mongolian and 232 Russian troops and focuses on UN peacekeeping. The exercise will last until 15 September, and is part of a $7 million military aid package from Russia.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Nevertheless, Russia plays an important role in Mongolia's foreign policy, mainly in providing a counterbalance to China. "Chinese leaders believe that Mongolian territory is part of China and Mongolians are a national minority of China, and that they lost Mongolian territory because of Russia. The Chinese still have this in their mind, and this is what they teach their children. They don't say this officially but it's in their mind, probably forever," Galsanjamts said.

"Russia doesn't do this sort of thing," Galsanjamts continued. "There is always a question of how Mongolia can keep its independence between two giants, and the solution is keeping a balance between Russia and China."

Galsanjamts noted that in 1919, when Russia was in chaos, China took advantage of the situation to occupy Mongolia. Later on, however, a Stalin-led Soviet Union reasserted itself in Mongolia, pushing the Chinese out. "We had Russia's interest and so we weren't occupied by China. And because of China's interests, we didn't become the Mongolian Soviet Socialist Republic."

So Mongolians welcome Russia's increased interest in Mongolia, he said. Russia has increased the number of Mongolian officers it trains in Russian military academies, and has increased the amount of military aid it provides Ulaanbaatar, about $60 million over the last two years for equipment, including armored personnel carriers, tanks, and helicopters.

And because of the importance of maintaining good relations with Russia, ties with the United States - especially military ties - will necessarily be limited, Galsanjamts said. For example, exercises carried out between the United States and Mongolia will only be peacekeeping, not combat exercises, to avoid offending Russia, he said. Russian officials have told Mongolian leaders to "reconsider" deepening military ties with Washington, he added.

PEACEKEEPING, AMERICAN STYLE

An 11-day U.S.-Mongolian exercise known as Khaan Quest 2009, held at the Five Hills Peacekeeping Operations Training Center about 70 kilometers west of Ulaanbaatar, concluded on 25 August. The maneuvers involved roughly 500 soldiers from Mongolia, 150 Americans and 300 total troops from India, Japan, Cambodia, and South Korea - all of them practicing peacekeeping techniques. The closing ceremony featured a parade by the graduating platoons and speeches by the chief of staff of the U.S. Pacific Command (which sponsored the exercise), as well as Mongolia's defense minister and armed forces chief.

The exercise is the most visible form of U.S.-Mongolian military cooperation, which, for Mongolia, has become an integral part of its "third neighbor" foreign policy strategy. Under that strategy, Ulaanbaatar strives to strengthen relations with nations beyond its two immediate neighbors, Russia and China. The joint exercises have been held annually since 2003. For the last three years, they have included other countries beyond the United States and the host nation. Past participants have included Indonesia, Bangladesh, Tonga, and Fiji.

Khaan Quest grew out of Mongolia's participation in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the first combat action that Mongolian troops had seen since World War II. During the communist era, Mongolia was a close ally of the Soviet Union. In the post-Soviet age, though, Mongolia has built ties with countries other than China and Russia, to avoid being dominated by those two neighbors.

Mongolia's efforts to balance its strategic relations were underscored by the fact that as Khaan Quest 2009 was winding down, a different group of Mongolian soldiers was participating in the Darkhan 2 joint training with Russian armed forces.

The balancing act has proven complicated at times: The Khaan Quest closing ceremony, for instance, was moved back several hours from its original scheduled starting time so that the Mongolian officials could participate in events related to the arrival of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Ulaanbaatar the same morning.

After the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003, Mongolia initially wanted to take part in UN peacekeeping operations in Iraq, but the UN deemed Mongolia's armed forces unsuitable for deployment, said Mashbat Otgonbayar Sarlagtay, an analyst at Mongolia's Institute for Strategic Studies. The U.S., eager to recruit as many countries as possible for its "coalition of the willing," accepted Mongolia's forces despite their faults, Mashbat added. A contingent of about 150 Mongolian soldiers carried out perimeter security operations at Camp Echo in southern Iraq until Mongolia ended the deployment last year.

Mongolia's participation led to financial rewards from the U.S., including a $285 million aid package through the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Khaan Quest exercises. "This [peacekeeping exercise] is one of the gains we got from Iraq," Mashbat said. In addition, Mongolia has achieved its goal of taking part in UN peacekeeping operations, with a contingent of about 250 soldiers in Sierra Leone since 2006. Mongolia is also expected to send a unit to Afghanistan for the first time in mid-September, said Lieutenant Colonel Nyandorj, a spokesman for the Mongolian armed forces.

In addition to the Khaan Quest exercise, U.S. military cooperation with Mongolia includes an initiative unique to Mongolia in which a small group of U.S. Marines "embeds" with Mongolian forces full-time to help train them in Western military methods.

Although Mongolia does participate in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the focus of U.S. training in Mongolia is on UN peacekeeping operations. U.S. troops themselves traditionally do not participate in UN peacekeeping missions, and this can create some "challenges" for Marines working with the Mongolians, said Colonel Steven Merrill, the exercise's director. "The UN has different tactics, techniques, and procedures than we do. The American standards are a little stronger, a little more aggressive," he said. "We're talking about aggressiveness. In an ambush, for example, we might continue on and attack into the ambush, where a peacekeeping force, their goal is to keep going and get away."

Mongolia trains with many foreign militaries, including those of China and Russia, and Mongolian leaders are adept at using each foreign partner for what it can offer militarily, said Major Richard Callahan, the current commander of the Marine training program. "We are, in essence, another tool for the Mongolians to use. They take as much information as they can to develop their forces as best suits them. So they're not taking Marine Corps training and doctrine as gospel, they're applying it to how they do business," he said.