Jebtsundamba Khutuktu
In 1910 Khanddorj was invited to Ikh Khüree to become an advisor to the Khalkha Mongol Buddhist spiritual leader the 8th Bodg Gegeen Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. Dissatisfied with Beijing's "New Administration Policy" on governing Mongolia, Mongolia's spiritual leader the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu and several noble princes including Khanddorj, Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren, Da Lam Tserenchimed and others discussed the possibility of independence in earnest and in the summer of 1911 met in a secret congress to plot further strategy. The Khutuktu was persuaded to send a delegation headed by Khanddorj to Russia to seek assistance. In Saint Petersburg Khanddorj asked for Russia's help, to include the provision of arms, in protecting Mongolia's fledgling independence against Chinese incursions, and implied that Russian troops would be needed against a Chinese unit which the Mongolians believed was at that moment advancing into Mongolia. The Russian government decided to support, by diplomatic rather than by military means, not full independence for Mongolia, but autonomy within the Qing empire.