On December 6, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov received the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin. Truly grateful to the head of state for finding the time for reception, the guest conveyed to the Turkmen President warm greetings from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, who extended their wishes for well-being and prosperity to the people of Turkmenistan. As Grigory Karasin noted, Russia rates highly the traditionally friendly relations with Turkmenistan and attaches great importance to the development of the long-standing cooperation. After expressing gratitude for kind words, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has stressed that development of the constructive dialogue with Russia is regarded as a priority vector of the foreign policy pursued by neutral Turkmenistan and aimed at the mutuality-based partnership in the name of the global peace and well-being. In turn, addressing return greetings and best wishes to the President and the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, the head of state has ascertained a sustainable level of the Turkmenistan–Russia relations advancement. During the interested exchange of views on the current state and prospects of the cooperation, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and his guest gave special attention to the realization of bilateral agreements, including the ones reached during the meeting between the Presidents of Turkmenistan and Russia that took place in Sochi this year’s November. In this context, a significant role is assigned to the Intergovernmental Turkmen–Russian Commission that is seen as a powerful tool of putting into life the agreements reached and forming the optimum approaches to the partnership-favored issues. The upward trends in advancing the ties between Turkmenistan and the subjects of the Russian Federation - the Republic of Tatarstan, Astrakhan and Sverdlovsk Regions, the city of Saint-Petersburg, and other regions of Russia, is a primary example of the successful interstate cooperation advancement. Dwelling on the collaboration in the humanitarian and cultural spheres as an integral part of the Turkmenistan–Russia relations, the head of state and his guest spoke in favor of furthering the interest-based dialogue in the education, science, culture, and arts spheres. During the meeting, consideration was also given to several pressing issues of the international policy, first of the first to the ones pertaining to ensuring peace, security and sustainable development in the regional and global formats. In this regard, the sides reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the traditional cooperation, both in the bilateral and multilateral format, within the framework of the reputable international organizations and structures. Noting the fact that the next year is the year of the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation, the head of state and his guest welcomed the idea of holding joint events in the two states dedicated to the significant date. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Turkmenistan, Alexander Blokhin.