Russian President Pays A flying Visit to Mongolia

Russian President Vladimir Putin is making a short trip to Mongolia on Wednesday, September 3, right in the midst of growing tensions across the world over Moscow's bid to take over Ukraine.

President Putin is scheduled to meet President Elbegdorj Tsakhia in the afternoon in the capital Ulan Bator. The talks will center on trade and infrastructure development.

 Russia and Mongolia are planning to sign an agreement on visa-free travel, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday, reports the Russian news agency, Itar-Tass.

Magnolia has been under the influence of both China and Russia, its bordering countries, and has considerable bilateral trade with both. The mineral-rich country is of considerable interest to both and Mongolia relies on aid for infrastructure development.

Russia is the second biggest trade partner after China. of Mongolia. Moscow also holds a 51 percent stake in Mongolia's railway and a 49 percent stake in its largest state-owned copper mine.

The Chinese President Xi Jinping also paid a state visit to Ulan Bator in August and pledged $10 billion in trade commitments by 2020, reports the Associated Press.

But recently bilateral trade dropped by almost 16 percent in 2013 to $1.6 billion and by another 13 percent in the first half of this year, reports Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty.

Leading a high-level delegation at this crucial juncture to Mongolia is seen as a strong signal by Russia of its heightened interest in the Central Asian region

"Simply by sending a top-level delegation, Russia is sending a signal that it will continue to take an interest in the Central Asian nation," said  Neil Ashdown, a Mongolia expert and senior Asia-Pacific analyst at IHS, a global information and analytics firm, reports Deutsche Welle.

According to Ashdown, Mongolia is the meeting ground for both Russia and China. The aim is to promote trilateral relation between Beijing, Ulan Bator and Moscow.

Although Mongolia has always aimed to maintain a broad -based foreign policy and has tried to reduce its dependence on its two neighbors, but a slowdown in economy and investor confidence has forced it to depend more on Russia and China.

But analysts fear that Mongolia's dependence on the regional neighbors may be harmful in the long run both politically and economically as other countries will view the trilateral ties as a kind of "'club of authoritarian states". This will hinder the West from investing in the region.