Russia offers visa-free regime to Turkmenistan, whose authorities decided in 1999 to withdraw from the CIS agreement on visa-free travel.
Alexander Blokhin, the Russian ambassador to Ashgabat, told TASS news agency on 20 April.
"We are ready to liberalize the issue of visa regime, tourism and so on to the extent Turkmenistan will be ready."
The diplomat stressed that Moscow is not imposing anything.
"It is its sovereign right to regulate these relations, we respect its decisions. We are fully prepared from liberalization to full cancellation, as the Turkmen side decides," he said.
Turkmenistan has a visa regime with every country in the world.
At the same time, Turkey unilaterally imposed a visa-free travel regime (up to 30 days) on Turkmen citizens 15 years ago, but in September 2022 it was cancelled at the request of the Turkmen foreign ministry.
Turkey remains attractive for the working-age population, and Russia is the number one country for Turkmen nationals (more than 30,000) to receive higher education.
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) recently welcomed the opening of regular flights to Turkmenistan after a long hiatus caused by the pandemic, but reminded its customers of the visa complications.
"Turkmenistan is a colourful and interesting country. But there will most likely be no Russian tourists on the planes flying to Turkmenbashi," Zharkov-Tour director Andrey Zharkov said.
Daryo previously wrote that Russia has included Turkmenistan in the itinerary of a cruise tour that will sail across the Caspian Sea for the first time since August.
The five-star "Peter the Great" liner is expected to reach the Avaza resort, which can accommodate 5,000 guests at a time.
Local authorities have promised to introduce a special simplified visa regime for foreigners wishing to visit this Caspian Riviera.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov, Ashgabat
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