Diplomatic Activity of Russian Consuls in the Context of Political Transformations in Mongolia at the Beginning of the 20th Century and During the First World War

This article examines the objectives, specific features, and results of the diplomatic work of the Russian consulates in Outer Mongolia during the rise of the Mongolian national liberation movement in the 1900–1910s. In the period after the Xinhai Revolution, Russian representatives were actively involved in the settlement of the political disputes between China and Mongolia, which sought independence from the former, and facilitated the achieving of autonomous status by Mongolia. The Russian diplomats participated in the elaboration and implementation of important international agreements, the organization of technical and financial help to the Mongolian government, and the prevention of the spread of the pan-Mongolist movement. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, and specifically in the early 1910s, which partially coincided with the first years of the First World War, the Russian consulates not only served as powerful protectors of Russia’s strategic interests in Mongolia but also played a significant regulating role in the political processes in this country. Above that, they were important for maintaining the Russian Empire’s political contacts with China and Mongolia and the political status quo in the regional system of international relations.