Moscow Reduces Its Troops in Mongolia
The Soviet Union said Saturday that it has begun withdrawing some of its troops from Mongolia, where a Soviet military buildup took place in the 1960s when relations with China deteriorated.
Kremlin officials said in January that the withdrawal was planned to help improve the security climate in Asia, but Saturday’s report by the Tass news agency was the first official word that the pullback has begun.
Tass said one Soviet motorized rifle division and several other units are being brought home from Mongolia, a Moscow-allied buffer state between the Soviet Union and China.
Western diplomats estimate that there are about 38,000 Soviet troops in Mongolia.
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