Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree appointing Ivan Volynkin as Russian Ambassador to Turkmenistan. The document was published Thursday on the official portal of legal information.
"To appoint Ivan Kirillovich Volynkin as Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkmenistan," the document reads.
By another decree, the president dismissed Alexander Blokhin, who had held the post of Russian ambassador to Turkmenistan since 2011.
Volynkin was born in Moscow in 1959. Graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs (now MGIMO of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). He has been in the diplomatic service since 1981. From 2013 to 2018 he headed the Russian diplomatic mission in Armenia. In June 2018, he was appointed Director of the Consular Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS