Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at a joint news conference following talks with Foreign Minister of Mongolia Battsetseg Batmunkh, Ulaanbaatar, July 5, 2022

Madam Minister,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to express my gratitude to our Mongolian friends for the invitation and for the hospitality shown to our delegation.

The talks with Foreign Minister of Mongolia Battsetseg Batmunkh were comprehensive and took place in an atmosphere of friendship and trust, as is traditionally the case.

The neighbourly relations between Russia and Mongolia are based on a long history of productive cooperation and are multifaceted in nature. Our countries cherish the memory of our military brotherhood and joint fight against Nazism and militarism. Today we again praised the contribution that Mongolia made to the victory in the Second World War.

We have discussed in detail the current issues on the bilateral and international agendas. We noted the mutual desire to further improve cooperation in the spirit of the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, signed by the presidents of our countries in Ulaanbaatar on September 3, 2019.

We have discussed all areas of cooperation in accordance with the agreements reached by our presidents during the visit of President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh to Russia in December 2021. We discussed the new situation that allowed for continuing the political dialogue after the pandemic-related break. We noted, in particular, the importance of Foreign Minister of Mongolia Battsetseg Batmunkh’s visit to Russia in the autumn of 2021, as well as other events to mark the 100th anniversary of our interstate relations.

Bilateral trade is recovering fast; in 2021 it grew by 30 percent, and by over 40 percent in the first months of this year.

We also touched upon current practical issues, including the current and planned projects in energy, transport, environmental protection, humanitarian and cultural ties, peaceful exploration of outer space, and other areas. We have agreed to actively facilitate the work of the Russia-Mongolia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, whose next regular meeting will take place in Russia this year.

We share a common stance on most international issues. Mongolia and the Russian Federation are guided by the need to adhere to the UN Charter provisions, first of all, the principles of the sovereign equality of states and noninterference in their domestic affairs.

I spoke in detail about the causes of the current unprecedented escalation of tensions in global affairs, the destructive course the US and its satellites are on to serve their own selfish interests at the expense of the interests of other countries. One of the most dangerous manifestations of the Western policy is the many-year effort to turn Ukraine into an openly Russophobic, neo-Nazi state and a military foothold from which to threaten the security of the Russian Federation.

I briefed our partners on the progress of the special military operation in Donbass and in Ukraine. We are interested in providing the broader international community with access to the facts about how representatives of the Kiev regime have behaved in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the West continues to do its best to restrict the activity of media providing objective information about what is happening.

When discussing other issues on the international agenda, we agreed to continue coordinating our activity in the UN, OSCE and multilateral platforms in the Asia-Pacific region. We also touched upon a range of issues related to expanding cooperation between Mongolia and the SCO, EAEU and CSTO.

Overall, we are satisfied with the talks that confirmed the mutual intention of the Russian Federation and Mongolia to further develop the potential of our bilateral and multilateral cooperation.