1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

Category

Events

Events

Name organizer Where
MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

64x64

Mongolia moves to redeem USD 600 million Khuraldai bond www.news.mn

Mongolia announced debt regulation measures to refinance its USD 600 million Khuraldai bond.
Ulaanbaatar extended an offer to investors for a cash buyback of the 8.75 percent interest rate, with the Khuraldai bond set to mature in 2024. The move allows for the potential deferral of the payment period for a specific portion of the foreign debt.
Initially, the Mongolian government issued USD 650million in bonds with a term of five years, for both the Gerege and Khuraldai bonds, and an interest rate expectation of 11-12 percent. However, a total of USD 4 billion in orders were received from 138 investors. That led to a decrease in the interest rate to 8.75 percent.
The government of Mongolia has issued eight bonds since 2012, raising USD 5.8 billion, with the capital earmarked for debt refinancing, tackling the country’s budget deficit and funding major projects.
Fitch Ratings has assigned Mongolia’s proposed US dollar bonds a ‘B’ rating. That’s in line with Mongolia’s ‘B’ Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR).
The redeeming of the Khuraldai bond comes following Mongolia’s economic bounceback from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government says the country’s economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2023, up from 4.7 percent in 2022, and 6.2 percent in 2024, with the country’s deficit falling by 60 percent and exports rebounding strongly.
In a boost to growth, the Government announced the commencement of underground production at the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the Gobi Desert with Rio Tinto in March.
 
 
 
...


64x64

All roads seem to lead to Mongolia www.news.mn

A report published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta cites a Russian deputy prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, as saying Moscow wants to extend the M-12 highway to China via Mongolia. Currently, the M-12 connects Russia to Kazakhstan. Expansion would facilitate growth in tourism and ground transport, Khusnullin said.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan and Mongolia are in the process of updating an agreement on road and air transport, striving to simplify transit from/to China, the Mongolian National News Agency reports. Uzbek and Mongolian officials agreed in a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the transit of goods not only between China and Europe, but also to Iran, Pakistan and India.
...


64x64

600 buses to be purchased from "Yutong Bus" by MNT 165 billion www.gogo.mn

On December 1, the Procurement Department of the Capital city provided information regarding the announcement of a bid for the purchase of public transport in Ulaanbaatar.
In relevance, P.Sainzorig, the first deputy governor: Five companies submitted proposals for the bid, and the process of disassembling the materials was done openly for the public. After examining the submitted materials, the Evaluation Committee found that the materials of four companies did not meet the requirements. Thus, the proposal of the Chinese bus manufacturer "Yutong Bus" to supply a total of 600 buses for MNT 165 billion (165,589,920,000₮) was selected.
There are 28 requirements set for these buses such as:
Manufactured in this year
Ergonomic parameters should meet standards
With left wheels
Capacity: 26-30+1 seats, 50 people standing space, or a total capacity of 80 passengers
10-11 meters long and 2.4-2.5 meters wide
Fuel tank to be more than 250 liters
Maximum speed is 70 km/h
Not freeze to -45 degrees Celsius
Have brakes on tires
Have two passenger doors and lighting
Floor should be made of non-slip material
Driver's cabin must be separated
Have at least six heating devices
Have parking announcing speakers
Have LED screens on three sides
...


64x64

26 people under investigation in bus purchase case www.gogo.mn

A working group established by The State General Prosecutor's Office of Mongolia, The Independent Authority Against Corruption of Mongolia, and the General Police Department, is investigating the case related to the purchase of public transport buses with the state budget.
The working group took witness statements from 141 people to clarify important circumstances in the case, and with the permission of the prosecutor, searched houses and other places of 11 citizens. Also, measures were taken to restrict the transfer of assets of the enterprise related to the case and to freeze its assets.
Currently, 26 people have been charged as defendants and investigated for using their power and position in organizing the purchase of 800 buses with the state budget in 2023.
In particular, one politically influential person, 18 officials from the Capital Governor's Office, Procurement Department, Public Transport Department, three management and executive officials of a private company, and four foreign nationals were charged.
Furthermore, one person was detained and 24 people were restrained from leaving the border of Mongolia.
...


64x64

Mongolia urges Russia, other nations to return cultural artefacts www.news.mn

Mongolia on Monday called for more support from Russia, Britain, and other countries to repatriate hundreds of cultural artefacts, some dating back over two millennia.
Key artefacts include a letter from Mongolia’s first prime minister declaring independence from China’s Manchu dynasty, currently held at the British Library in London, the Mongolian government said in a statement.
Artefacts associated with the Persian statesman Rashid al-Din who worked in the courts of several Mongol rulers of Persia in the 13th and 14th centuries are being kept at the Museum of Edinburgh, it also said.
In recent decades, many countries, including former colonies of European empires, have requested the return of cultural and historical artefacts taken away years ago, many of which are housed in museums reluctant to surrender their collections.
Mongolia has made some headway in claiming back its cultural artefacts. Earlier this year, the United States returned dinosaur fossils taken out of Mongolia, including the skull of an alioramus, a smaller version of a tyrannosaurus rex that lived 70 million years ago.
At a forum in Russia last week, Mongolia’s Culture Minister Ch.Nomin also requested Moscow’s help with identifying and returning artefacts that were sent to Russia for research and restoration purposes one hundred years ago, including artefacts from the Hunnu dynasty 2,000 years ago excavated from the Noyon Uul burial site by Russian explorer Pyotr Kozlov in the 1920s.
...


64x64

Mongolian coal shipments to China declined www.news.mn

Mongolian metallurgical coal shipments to China through the Gantsmod land port declined in the week to 12 November amid winter weighing on coal deliveries, but overall year-to-date shipments remained sharply higher on the year.
Daily coal haulage via the Gantsmod port reached 951 trucks, down 9.7 percent on the week, China-based consultancy Haitong International Securities said in a latest note. But despite this, the number of trucks carrying coal through Gantsmod during the January-November period reached 228,600, more than double year on year.
Back in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic lowered coal truck hauls from Mongolia through the Gantsmod port. But since then, Mongolia has emerged as the largest met coal supplier to China, overtaking China’s traditionally large supplier Australia. In the near term, met coal shipments from Mongolia to China are expected to decline due to the winter season, as lower temperatures have been impacting loading and unloading, sources said.
The number of Mongolian trucks carrying coal to China may not breach the 1,000 mark in the near term, analysts at Haitong said.
...


64x64

Mongolia Tops FIDE's New Gender Equality In Chess Index; Denmark Ranks Worst www.chess.com

Mongolia is the nation ranking highest for promoting gender equality in chess but—perhaps surprisingly—the Nordic countries occupy three of the four worst spots, a new study has revealed.
Research commissioned by the World Chess Federation's (FIDE) Women in Chess Commission and published jointly with the University of Queensland ranked 105 of the world's national chess federations to create a new Gender Equality in Chess Index (GECI).
The study used three key indicators, "Participation," "Performance," and "Progress," to compare gender equality within the international chess community. Data was taken from the FIDE ratings list and the proportions of participants taking part in recent World Youth, World Cadet and selected Continental Youth Championships.
Top of the table was Mongolia with the highest GECI score of 86.53. According to the report, almost 40% of Mongolia’s active players on the September 2023 FIDE rating list are women.
The Mongolian federation’s president, Gurvanbaatar Erdenebaatar, said in the report: “Mongolians have been playing and developing chess since ancient times and nowadays people are paying a lot of attention in teaching chess to their kids because of the successful achievements of our youth and professional women players.”
Mr Gurvanbaatar highlighted two policies that have driven success: “Mongolian Chess Federation maintains a policy of equal prize money for men and women chess players at national level tournaments.
"In addition, consistent with the call of FIDE when announcing the year of women’s chess in 2022, we try to involve our women chess players in decision-making at the management level.”
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag, Mongolia’s highest-rated female player, told FIDE she has received significant support to help her career progress.
"We have a government bonus when we become a grandmaster. Also since 2012 with a break for four years we have a national team that receives a salary from the state. Now there is a tendency to increase the support of the national team, and, for example, the national championships have the same prize fund for both women and men."
Mongolia was followed by Sri Lanka, Uganda, Vietnam, and Namibia. Smaller federations dominate the top places and it is not until Georgia (12) and Azerbaijan (15) that major chess nations crop up. India and Russia—traditionally two of the strongest nations at the elite level of women's chess—are placed 24th and 25th respectively.
The Nordic nations fare badly, with Denmark bottom of the table with a GECI score of 34.34, Iceland second-worst in 104th, Sweden ranked 102nd, Finland in 99th, and Norway 94th.
This is despite the organizers of Norway Chess announcing earlier this year their ground-breaking vision to host an all-female super tournament in 2024 with conditions equal to their annual top-level competition.
Chess.com has contacted the Danish Chess Federation for a response, but hasn't received one yet. On the platform X, GM Peter Heine Nielsen said the key question was why:
Leading the research was Australian GM David Smerdon, a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and author of several popular chess books. He was joined from FIDE's Commission for Women's Chess by Carol B. Meyer, WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WFM Maria Rodrigo-Yanguas and, WIM Anastasia Sorokina.
FIDE has 199 countries as affiliate members, in the form of National Chess Federations, of which 76 were excluded due to missing data. One of the nations missing was China which currently dominates women's chess and has held the women's world title since 2016.
As China's top juniors were unable to travel to world and continental age championships during the COVID-19 pandemic the authors said there was not enough data for a Progress score at the time of publication.
When Ding Liren won the world championship for China this year he was following in the footsteps of the likes of Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun. Photos: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
The authors recognised the analysis was "imperfect", but said they hope the report "can foster positive and constructive discussions within federations and across the broader chess community."
They added: "It allows members of federations and other organisations to set quantifiable targets for women and girls’ chess within each country, and to track progress over time. It is our goal that the GECI might serve as a useful tool towards gender equality in the world of chess, fostering a more inclusive and equitable environment for everyone in the game."
FIDE has faced criticism in recent years for its failure to tackle the gender gap in chess. In 2022, GM Tan Zhongyi, the 2022 Women's Rapid Champion and finalist of the Women's Candidates, was the only female chess player to earn over $100,000 in prize money compared to 19 male competitors―11 of whom earned over $200,000.
In October, the Women In Chess Foundation—an organization outside FIDE—launched with the goal of increasing the participation rates of girls and women in the game at all levels while creating safer environments and helping improve the quality of women's chess events.
It follows a series of scandals that have rocked women's chess this year. Stories of sexual harassment have emerged, such as The Wall Street Journal's story of how eight women claimed GM Alejandro Ramirez used his status to make repeated unwanted sexual advances toward them.
Ellen Carlsen, the sister of the former world champion, is another to speak out. She said that Shahade's initial allegations had led her to report an incident of harassment to the Norwegian Chess Federation.
Another female chess player who has made headlines with recent allegations was the English WIM Sabrina Chevannes, who gave an emotional interview to Times Radio and detailed her harrowing experiences of sexual harassment and misogyny on the platform X. Chevannes said they caused her to quit playing the game professionally.
Also this year, 14 of France's most notable female players signed an open letter entitled “Nous, Joueuse d'échecs,” which denounced what they said was repeated sexist behavior and acts of violence in the chess world.
...


64x64

Mongolia Economic Update - Robust but Unbalanced Growth (November 2023) www.worldbank.org

Mongolia’s economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2023 and 6.2 percent in 2024 as the mining sector expands, private consumption recovers, and fiscal expansion stays strong, according to the World Bank’s latest semi-annual Mongolia Economic Update.
In the first half of 2023, Mongolia’s economy exhibited robust growth, primarily propelled by the mining sector. Early indicators suggest that this growth trend has persisted in the latter half of the year. Nevertheless, growth has been markedly uneven, with the non-mining sector trailing behind, underscoring the economy’s heavy reliance on the mining sector and its heightened exposure to mining sector cycles.
In the medium term, economic growth is expected to accelerate, averaging above 6 percent in 2025-2026, driven by a substantial increase in mineral production as Oyu Tolgoi’s 2023 mining production is anticipated to more than double by 2025.
Yet, significant downside risks persist. These risks encompass lower mineral exports prompted by slower-than-expected growth in China, as well as uncertainties on coal offtake agreements. Additional risks include inflationary pressures stemming from both further domestic fiscal expansion and heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East, potentially resulting in higher oil prices.
An analytical chapter focuses on Mongolia’s trade opportunities in digital services, which could help diversify the country’s economy. Mongolia’s strongest opportunities to bolster its digital services growth and trade are in software development, telecommunications, and digital marketing. However, despite progress in telecommunications and internet penetration, considerable constraints remain in digital infrastructure, including slow network speeds, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and a shortage of highly skilled professionals.
“While the ongoing surge in mining exports is bolstering macroeconomic conditions, the sustainability of these positive trends calls for continued reforms aimed at diversifying the Mongolian economy and enhancing its resilience to commodity price cycles,” said World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia Taehyun Lee.
The report emphasizes the need for fiscal moderation to mitigate inflationary pressures and enhance macroeconomic stability, thereby stimulating private sector investment and bolstering global market confidence. In addition, the report recommends improving social protection efficiency to safeguard household consumption without spurring inflationary pressures.
In the medium term, the report suggests rebuilding fiscal buffers to respond to shocks and create space for future investments, including under the New Recovery Policy. To promote economic diversification through digital services, the report advises enhancing digital infrastructure and establishing initiatives to upgrade digital skills.
...


64x64

The Buryats Who Fled Soviet Russia And Now Thrive In Mongolia www.rferl.org

Thousands of Buryats, a distinctive ethnic minority in Russia, fled tsarist conscription during World War I as well as the Soviet repressions that followed to form their own microcosm of Buryat culture in a remote region of Mongolia.
Karina Pronina, a journalist with the Siberian online magazine Lyudi Baikala, visited the north Mongolian village of Dadal where some of these Buryat emigrants settled in the last century, and came back with this report, which has also been published by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities.
In 1924, a starving Buryat family left their village of Bada, in the south of the nascent Soviet Union, and fled toward Mongolia. During the weekslong journey, it's said that one of the women, exhausted, placed her baby daughter on the ground. She covered the infant’s face with a scarf to keep the flies away, then hurried after the rest of the group.
"Soon a relative asked her, ‘where is your child?'" says 74-year old Yumzhavyn Tsevelmaa, a direct descendant of that same woman. “They forced her to return and pick up her child. If they hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you now.”
Tsevelmaa was born and has lived all her life in the Mongolian village of Dadal, where some 70 percent of the 3,000 inhabitants are descendants of Buryat migrants who left the Buryatia and Transbaikal regions of today's Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
Buryats are an ethnic minority of Siberia whose population of around half a million largely follow a blend of Buddhism and Shamanism. The Buryatia region has been hit hard by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with thousands of Buryat men being mobilized to fight. Buryatia has reportedly suffered the highest casualty rate of any region behind only the neighboring Tuva Republic. Around 50,000 ethnic Buryats currently live in Mongolia.
“They were afraid for themselves and for their children,” Tsevelmaa says of the reasons her relatives fled the Soviet Union as it was being formed. “The Russian Civil War had just ended, there was a famine. In Mongolia, my family felt safe.
Over time, the new arrivals began to thrive in Mongolia. “They were resourceful and hardworking,” Tsevelmaa says. "Everything they earned was kept in chests. There was jewelry, Chinese silks, coral, leathers."
But in the 1930s, during communist purges in the Mongolian People's Republic, “everything was shaken out of those chests and confiscated,” Tsevelmaa says. “The Buryats were called traitors and enemies. They were accused of betraying the Soviet Union because they fled the country.”
When Mongolia's Soviet-backed authorities arrested Tsevelmaa’s grandfather he reportedly told others not to worry, saying, “I’m not guilty of anything.” Her grandfather put on his best clothes, got on his favorite horse and rode off to give himself up for interrogation. He was later executed.
Like many other residents of Dadal, Tsevelmaa believes the repression of Buryats in Soviet-backed Mongolia took place on the personal orders of Josef Stalin in Moscow. But the former teacher’s views of Russia today are without emotion. “We need to be friends with Russia, because it is our neighbor. A very big neighbor,” she says.
Dadal is located in northeastern Mongolia, just 34 kilometers away from the Russian border but nearly 400 kilometers from the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, as the crow flies. Half of that journey is across rough dirt roads of the steppe.
“Don’t bother asking Google,” a driver in Ulan Bator laughs when I check the driving time to Dadal on my phone. The navigation app claims a travel time of seven hours. In fact, we drive for some 14 hours. When we arrive, my mind and body are so jarred from the endless shaking that it seems like we’ve arrived in a Russian village.
Instead of Mongolia’s endless steppes and sheep herds, here there are lakes, rivers, and meadows. In a pine forest near the entrance to Dadal, fine edible mushrooms grow on the side of the road.
The feeling of distance from Mongolian culture intensifies inside Dadal. There are no yurts -- the traditional houses of nomadic farmers in the East Asian country -- everyone here lives inside wooden houses, many with cows and roosters wandering outside.
Gelegzhamsyn Purev, 77, and his wife, 70-year-old Dugarzhav Dolgormaa, live on the outskirts of Dadal.
With his camouflaged hunting jacket and flat cap, Purev looks like any ordinary pensioner from a Buryat village in Russia. But he was born in Dadal and speaks no Russian, only a mixture of Buryat and Mongolian.
The Purev family are prosperous livestock managers, owning 1,000 sheep, 100 cows, and 200 horses. Purev doesn’t call himself a farmer, but modestly introduces himself as a pensioner. His business success came through selling milk and cottage cheese to workers toiling on roads in the region.
Dugarzhav Dolgormaa serves dandelion honey, made with 200 grams of flower heads and 200 grams of sugar brought to a boil over low heat.
Dugarzhav Dolgormaa serves dandelion honey, made with 200 grams of flower heads and 200 grams of sugar brought to a boil over low heat.
Purev says his relatives fled to Dadal from Buryatia in 1924. The settlers walked with children, livestock, and their possessions loaded onto a cart. When they crossed the border of the fledgling Soviet Union, they tied the dog's muzzles shut so they couldn’t bark, and wound rags around their horses' hooves to muffle the sounds of their escape from any potential border patrols.
Buryats left for Mongolia in three waves. The first wave came at the beginning of the 20th century when ethnic Russian settlers arrived in Buryatia en masse, squeezing the indigenous population out of pasture areas for livestock.
The second wave took place during World War I as Buryats were being mobilized to assist the Russian Army. Despite not being assigned to frontline fighting roles, many died from harsh conditions in the military.
The third wave of Buryat settlement in Mongolia came after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the conflict that followed.
“The Russian Civil war became an accelerating factor [of resettlement],” says Ivan Peshkov, the head of Central Asian studies at Poland’s Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.
By 1934 there were already 35,000 Buryats living in Mongolia, mostly in regions along the Soviet border, Peshkov says.
Today, most descendants of the settlers know little about how the exodus took place -- potentially dangerous knowledge during the Soviet period -- but some legends have been handed down through the generations.
Badam Baterdene, a guide at the local museum, says his family arrived in 1902 as one of the first to move to Mongolia. Baterdene's great-great-grandmother was five years old at the time. According to the myth-like family story, she was riding in a cart, fell asleep on the way and tumbled out without the adults noticing.
“In the morning they realized the girl was missing,” Baterdene recounts. When a relative retraced their route he saw the girl riding toward him “on a dog,” which had allegedly guarded the child.
It's estimated that some 20,000-35,000 “enemies of the revolution” were executed in Mongolia under communism. As in the U.S.S.R., the peak of repression in Mongolia occurred in the 1930s. Buddhist monks were the first to be targeted, then Buryat migrants.
“According to my Mongolian colleagues, a third of the Buryats living in the country were arrested.” Peshkov says. “Of those, around a quarter were shot. The rest were imprisoned, exiled to Siberia, fired from work, or restricted in employment.”
“In Mongolia, the Buryats were perceived as a dangerous people associated with Japan,” explains Peshkov of the Asian minority of the U.S.S.R. “The fact that they left the Soviet Union only served to confirm suspicions.”
For many, Peshkov says, “their 'cross-border' status became a death sentence."
Of the 2,000 residents of Dadal, it's said that more than 600 people -- nearly a third of the entire population at the time -- were arrested in the 1930s. Many were executed, including three women, one of whom was pregnant.
“Stalin really didn’t like the Buryats who left him,” says 63-year-old Dadal resident Tsyrendorzhi Monbish.
In the 1930s, her grandfather and his two sons were arrested. Monbish's grandfather was exiled to Siberia and never returned. His fate remains a mystery. Her grandfather’s eldest son was also exiled to the Soviet Union and died there. Her grandfather’s second son worked for the state but was also arrested. During interrogations, he denied being guilty of any crime.
“And they shot him,”Monbish says. “He could have simply remained silent, but he boldly declared his innocence. He was brave.”
When asked her opinion of Russia today she indicates a positive attitude to the country but says “war with Ukraine? I am against war! The image of Russia has sunk so low, I want [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to die.”
She adds, “I know that Putin is sending the Buryats to war. We are against this.”
Buryats have borne a heavy burden from the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the first wave of mobilization in the autumn of 2022, more than 4,000 Buryat men were reportedly drafted into the army.
Some Dadal residents decline to express their opinions about Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- especially officials.
Badam Baterdene, who also works in the agricultural department of the local administration, says that initially he thought, “Russia is right in this war.”
"We read that Ukrainians are former Nazis," he says. "But now I can’t understand who, what, why and what for."
Other locals are more forthcoming. Tsyrendorzhi Yanzhima, a cafe owner says that she “cannot understand why the Buryats are being sent to war.”
“In the 1930s, the Buryats were repressed; now repressions have returned. Young guys get sent to war, and may never return. Let them move here instead. If all the Buryats [in Russia] moved to Mongolia, we would help them” she says. “There is a lot of work here.”
Three stupa that were erected on the grounds of the monastery in Dadal to commemorate Buryats killed in Soviet-era repressions.
Three stupa that were erected on the grounds of the monastery in Dadal to commemorate Buryats killed in Soviet-era repressions.
Yanzhima leads me to the local monastery. Several years ago, three Buddhist stupa were placed here to commemorate the Buryats killed during the communist era. A Buddhist drum was placed nearby with all the names of the villagers killed by the authorities. Yanzhima points out several names on the drum that are her relatives.
“All the men were taken away from us, all the men’s work was done by women and boys,” Yanzhima says. “They mowed hay, chopped firewood, slaughtered the cows. It was a difficult time, but it strengthened this village. We became even more hardworking. Many people want to marry a Buryat because we are very competent and we don’t complain about life.”
One ardent critic of the Russian government is Galsangiin Dorzhsuren, the former mayor of Dadal.
When we meet Dorzhsuren he is working in a potato field in rough old clothes. Soon, however, he heads inside his house and changes into a traditional Buryat suit and hat.
“Buryats in Russia go to war because they live very poorly there,” Dorzhsuren says. "They are fleeing to us in Mongolia because your economy is weak." He recalls his impressions from a trip to Buryatia 15 years ago. “There were destroyed villages, destroyed houses, devastation all around,” he says.
Dorzhsuren invites us to sit with him. Nuts, Russian chocolates, and a bottle of vodka are served up. This is the first time we have been offered alcohol in Dadal. The spirit is poured into shot glasses for everyone, then the ex-mayor gives a long toast about how good it is that Russians such as us have come to Dadal. And then after glasses are clinked he shouts in Russian: “Let’s go!” And we drink.
Dadal also went through difficult times, Dorzhsuren says. “But our older relatives never complained to us about their lives,” he recalls. “Only when there were parties, they poured out all the sorrow of their souls with songs. They sang about who was repressed, who was taken away."
But, he adds, "when sober again, they kept everything to themselves."
This story is an adaptation by Amos Chapple of a report by Karina Pronina for Lyudi Baikala. The original story can be read here.
...


64x64

Presidents of Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates Hold Meeting www.montsame.mn

President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, who is on a working visit in the United Arab Emirates to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP 28 met with President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on November 28, 2023, in Abu-Dhabi.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on expanding the relations between Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates in a wide range of areas.
H.E. President Khurelsukh, congratulated on the upcoming 52nd anniversary of the establishment of the United Arab Emirates. Noting the significance of not only the international community but also each country’s contribution to overcoming global challenges such as climate change, desertification, and food security President Khurelsukh emphasized that effective cooperation in coordinating the initiatives and goals of the two countries in these areas is vital.
The President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan introduced the development program and goals of the country and expressed the eagerness to develop close and consistent relations with Mongolia and strengthen cooperation in numerous fields within the framework of the documents established on this day.
A Memorandum of Understanding on Visa Exemption was signed
Within the framework of the meeting of the Heads of State of the two countries, the following documents were established to strengthen the legal framework of cooperation between Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates. These include:
-Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments on the exemption from visa requirements for diplomatic, official, and ordinary passport holders;
-Memorandum of Understanding between the Cabinet Secretariat of Mongolia and the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs of the UAE on the exchange of experience on government development and reforms;
-Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a joint Cooperation Committee between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates;
-Memorandum of Understanding between the Institute of International Studies of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and the Emirates Policy Center of the UAE;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the General Department of Education of Mongolia and the Digital School of the United Arab Emirates on cooperation in e-learning initiatives;
- Memorandum of understanding between the Mongolian National Public Radio and Television and the Abu Dhabi Media Office.
The parties noted that with the establishment of these documents, a legal framework for visa-free travel for citizens of the two countries will be formed, and cooperation between the two countries will further expand in the fields of trade, economy, food, agriculture, energy, mining, education, road transport and combating desertification. The two parties also agreed to establish mechanisms for dialogue between the two countries and hold regular meetings.
 
 
 
...


  • Terms of Reference
  • About
  • Contact Us

Managed by: B2BMongolia www.b2bmongolia.com

Events

News

Facebook