The USSR narrowly survived the 1920s and 1930s, perhaps surviving in part by tapping formerly unknown gold sources in Siberia and Outer Mongolia. An English-language letter dated 14 April 1924 from C. R. Bennett, a representative of an American banking consortium in China, to Wellington Koo, foreign minister of China, even warned him of a new German and Soviet consortium to mine gold in Outer Mongolia. (See Map 3.) Coincidentally, Soviet political maneuvering in Outer Mongolia during fall 1924 strengthened the Soviet government's sphere of influence there, which allowed them to exploit these gold resources. Without access to these untapped gold riches, the Soviet government might have collapsed when the Great Depression hit unexpectedly in 1929.

After its 1921 invasion of Outer Mongolia, the Soviet government repeatedly promised China that it would withdraw its troops. But during May 1924, the American vice-consul in Kalgan, Edwin F. Stanton, reported that “the present Soviet Government, acting in an advisory capacity to the Mongolian Government, but actually dictating its policies and its administration, does not intend to relinquish either political or economic control of Outer Mongolia.” In fact, Moscow's creation of the Soviet bloc in 1924 to include Outer Mongolia has been ignored by most historians as insignificant. But the untapped Mongolian gold resources made it of great financial importance.

Even while publicly agreeing Outer Mongolia was part of China, the Soviet government sought to secretly retain it. Part of the mystery surrounding Soviet envoy Lev Karakhan's unwillingness to compromise on Outer Mongolia was cleared up during April 1924, when Koo received a communication from the Moore-Bennett company which directly related to the USSR's continued occupation of Outer Mongolia. This letter warned Koo that “[An] unimpeachable commercial source has reached me to the effect a composite political commercial financial technical group is now under establishment in Moscow and Berlin for the purpose of surveying and considering means of opening up and working all of the Eastern gold and other precious mineral fields of Siberia and particularly as affecting China's interest […]” This communication appears to have been the first detailed information that Koo received that the USSR and Germany were already cooperating with each other to exploit gold mines in Outer Mongolia.