More than 47 thousand students from Turkmenistan are currently studying in higher educational institutions of Russia, of which 7 thousand are receiving education at the expense of the Russian budget. This was reported by the Russian Ambassador to Ashgabat Ivan Volynkin in an article for the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan".
According to the diplomat, there is always a high interest in tours by Russian performers in Turkmenistan. In the first half of 2025, Ashgabat hosted sold-out concerts by the Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Zhalilov, soloist of the Moscow Theater "Novaya Opera" named after E.V. Kolobov Ilya Kuzmin, as well as musical groups "Turetsky Choir" and SOPRANO. The Russian film festival, held at the end of March, received an enthusiastic reception from the capital's public.
Volynkin emphasized that Russia has traditionally been one of Turkmenistan's main trading partners. Large Russian corporations successfully operate in the country: PAO “Gazprom”, PAO “Tatneft”, PAO “Kamaz”, the “Vozrozhdenie” group of companies, and others.
Interregional ties play an important role in the development of bilateral relations. Among Russian entities, the leaders in interaction with Turkmen colleagues are the Republic of Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan and Chelyabinsk regions.
The Ambassador noted the similarity of Russia's and Turkmenistan's approaches to key global and regional issues, including issues of ensuring global security. An important milestone was the adoption at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, at the initiative of Turkmenistan, of the resolution "2025 - International Year of Peace and Trust", co-authored by the Russian Federation.
"Our interests are close or coincide in other multilateral structures, including the CIS, the “Caspian Five” and the OSCE," the diplomat emphasized. He reminded that this year Turkmenistan is a co-chair, and in 2026 it will become the chairman in all the highest bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
An example of active bilateral cooperation was the XVI International Economic Forum "Russia - Islamic World KazanForum", which was held on May 13-18 in Kazan. The representative delegation of Turkmenistan was headed by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
During the visit, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Ambassador also noted the intensification of inter-parliamentary cooperation.
On March 29, Deputy Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Irina Svyatenko visited Turkmenistan to participate in the International Conference “Year of Peace and Trust: Developing International Activities for the Sake of Children”. During the visit, she met with Oguljahan Atabayeva, Vice President of the Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov Charitable Foundation for Assistance to Children in Need of Guardianship.
On April 6, on the sidelines of the 150th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Tashkent, the Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko held talks with the Chairperson of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan Dunyagozel Gulmanova.
