In his interview to ORIENT the Russian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ivan Volynkin shared that currently there are around 40,000 Turkmen students studying in Russia. The Progres team looked at publicly available data to understand the extent to which Russia is still a top destination for Turkmen youth. However, it is difficult to know the exact number of Turkmen students studying in Russia because there is no consistent and accurate data overtime.
UNESCO has data until 2022 but some of its data conflicts with other sources. For example, in 2022 UNESCO reports 27,095 students from Turkmenistan studying in Russia while the Project Atlas reports 36,773 and Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports 30,700.
Figure 1. Students from Turkmenistan Studying in Russia According to UNESCO
Other sources that report on the number of Turkmen students studying in Russia are as follows:
- 2022 – 30,700 students according to Chronicles of Turkmenistan;
- 2023 – about 30 thousand according to SalamNews;
- 2024 – around 40,000 according to the Russian Ministry of International Affairs.
Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the socioeconomic and political instability in Russia the number of Turkmen students studying there has remained similar between 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, in 2024 the number has increased roughly by 10,000. This might be due to increased focus on strengthening educational and cultural exchange between Turkmenistan and Russia. For example, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 7,000 out of 40,000 students in 2024 study free of charge at the expense of the Russian state budget. In comparison, in 2023 over 4,000 received education on a budgetary basis out of 30 thousand Turkmen students.
Moreover, there are plans to open the Joint Russian-Turkmen University, construct an additional building for primary classes of the Joint Russian-Turkmen Secondary School named after A.S. Pushkin and a new building of the State Russian Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin. There is also a Russian House in Ashgabat which organizes and participates in educational fairs to promote Russian higher education institutions among Turkmen youth.
Overall, based on the Russian and Turkmen pro-governmental media sources the number of Turkmen citizens pursuing higher education in Russia has been increasing overtime reaching its peak in 2024.
