The Russian and Mongolian militaries completed the main phase of a joint exercise Aug. 26—marking the first time Mongolia has hosted drills involving a foreign army within its territory. The maneuvers, dubbed Selenga 2024, were centered around the eastern city of Choibalsan, near the border with China. Armaments including drones, MiG-29 and Su-25 warplanes, Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters, and Grad rocket launchers were deployed in the main phase of the drill, which simulated a "joint Russian-Mongolian group of troops" retaking a settlement that had been seized by "illegal armed groups," according to the Russian military.

Mongolia, however, seems to be playing both sides in the Great Power game. The drills follow a visit to Mongolia by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month, during which he praised the deepening ties between Washington and the landlocked Asian country. 

The exercise also comes days after Mongolia's new coalition government voted not to include outlays for a new natural gas pipeline linking Russia and China through the country's territory in its spending plans for the next four years—a sign that the mega-project may be on hold. The Power of Siberia 2 line, a joint project between the China National Petroleum Corporation and Russian parastatal Gazprom, would bring gas from the Yamal Peninsula fields in Siberia's far north to Chinese markets. It is viewed as strategic to Russian economic and political ambitions in the region. (The Moscow Times, RFE/RL)