By Altankhuu Badarch
As the Kremlin declared a partial mobilization of military reservists on 21 September 2022, a sudden influx of Russian travelers crowded the border checkpoints of Russian neighboring countries. Sharing the longest land borders with Russia, Mongolia experienced heavy traffic at its border checkpoints. Immediately after the announcement within 10 days, roughly ten thousand Russians – which is equivalent to 0.29 percent of Mongolia’s population of 3.4 million – crossed the Mongolian-Russian border. These events have transpired despite the fact that Mongolia is neither a preferred destination by Russian travelers nor home to a significant Russian diasporic or Russian-speaking population like former Soviet republics. This sudden surge of Russian travelers was reminiscent of Americans fleeing to Canada and Mexico to avoid conscription during the Vietnam War. As such, these migrations have had positive and negative consequences on Mongolia’s society and economy.
Source: https://ikon.mn/n/2pbb
Visa Exemption Policies of 2014
Since 1991, visas have been required for the citizens of Mongolia and Russia to visit each other. However, citizens from the border regions were able to visit the near- border regions of the two countries with one-time entry-exit, visa-free permits. Following persistent requests from the Mongolian government and its people, the Mutual Visa Exemption Agreement was signed in 2014 just before the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was perceived by many Mongolians as a friendly gesture from the Kremlin. Mongolians have been using a 30-day visa exemption policy to travel to and through China as Mongolia and China normalized their bilateral relations in 1989. China has served as Mongolians’ getaway to the world along with Germany, South Korea, and Turkey. Without the 2014 reciprocal visa-exemption agreement, it would be very difficult for Russian citizens to travel to Mongolia since they would be required to go through a long visa application and approval process.
Border Checkpoints Along the Mongolian-Russian Borders
According to the Agreement on the Border Checkpoint Between Mongolia and the Russian Federation (1994), there are 29 border checkpoints. Through the amendments made to the agreement in 2021, 16 border checkpoints remain operational whereas 13 others – that were either transitional or temporarily operational – were permanently closed. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, Mongolian-Russian border checkpoints were completely closed to passengers. They were re-opened for passengers on 29 March 2022, a month after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Initially, the traffic was relatively normal in the first two months after the war in 2022 in comparison to the pre-pandemic period in 2019.
Impacts of Influx of Russian Travelers
While the impacts of those fleeing Russia at the onset of the war were mild, those who came after the mobilization decision of 21 September 2022 caused reverberating impacts throughout Mongolia. In particular, the number of Russians coming to Mongolia daily reached 1,000 between 21-30 September 2022, two or three times higher than the normal amount. There were 17,542 Russian citizens, who entered Mongolia between 21 September and 10 October 2022. 12,156 of them returned, and 2,336 transited to third-country destinations. Only after the announcement by the Head of the Republic of Buryatia (a constituent republic within the Russian Federation) on September 30 did the number of passengers decrease on the 1st of October. 10,862 citizens from the Buryatia came through the checkpoints at Altanbulag, Sukhbaatar, and Khankh. 5,276 citizens from Tyva (another republic within Russia) came through Borshoo, Tes, and Arts Suuri checkpoints. The decrease in the number of travelers may be related to the tough control and legal measures implemented by the Russian authorities.
Mongolia is the closest foreign country where Russians can travel without a visa by foot, car, train, or plane. However, since Mongolia does not have a large Russian population and due to cultural and language factors, it is understandable that not many of those who came intended to reside in Mongolia, except for a few who share common ethnic and cultural traits with the Mongolians. Yet, there was a considerable number of Russians who applied for Mongolian language training, so that they could get year-long visas to reside in Mongolia. The other Russians who arrived in Mongolia transited to other third countries like Turkey, Germany, South Korea, the USA, and more.
Concluding Thoughts
Compared to other destinations, such as Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Türkiye, Mongolia received comparatively fewer Russian families. However, these sudden and unexpected visitors caused both positive and negative impacts on Mongolia’s local life. As for Mongolia, the relationship between the two countries is an important factor in dealing with the large influx of Russians.
Moreover, the cost of rent in Ulaanbaatar has increased at least by more than 30 percent. Due to a large number of Russian citizens requesting visa extensions, long lines resulted in delays at the Mongolian border inspection and customs stations, as well as the immigration offices. Considering the urgency and the need for sudden visitors to stay, Mongolia has taken a humanitarian and considerate approach. Mongolia made a flexible change to extend the normal 30-day visa-free period, and most of them were extended to 2 months, or 1 year or so.
The effects of the influx have been apparent. Multiple tourists and Russian citizens roamed and lived around Ulaanbaatar during the winter of 2022-2023. It has affected the bilateral relationship and generated positive comments on social media. Shops, restaurants, hotels, taxis, and cross-border transportation all experienced more customers and revenue. Only two crimes related to the visitors have been registered. The majority of the population welcomed the sudden visitors.
While the war in Ukraine is still ongoing, it is hard to say whether such a flow of citizens will recur, and what its impact on Mongolia will be. What is important for Mongolia is to be ready for the unexpected.
Acknowledgement: Author would like to thank Mr. Hesu Song, a Princeton in Asia fellow in Mongolia, for being a peer reader and the copy-editing.
