In February 2022 Asia’s dynamics changed, losing respect for Russia, this was of course when Russia invaded Ukraine. With Putin at the helm they charged into Ukraine to “take back what’s theirs”. But what happened is that Russia lost Turkmenistan and many others for support once they became a ‘toxic neighbor’ (lowy institute). By invading Ukraine there was an economic slump which had a direct and immediate impact on Central Asian currencies and its imports.
However, just like Uskbistane, their neighbor, they stayed neutral. Staying neutral they still prepped for the worst and wanted to slowly minimize the influence of Russia because it has become unpredictable. Turkmenistan is in a permanent Neutrality and will stay like that for as long as possible as they simply cannot handle a war. Their economy is already fragile and taking a war would not help even on Nato’s side.
Despite having one of the biggest untapped natural gas burning caves, Turkmenistan is still very poor with their per capita being just under $20,000. Turkmenistan as a whole produces the second largest volume of gas in the world. However it is very hard to charge extra as they have been scammed since Turkmenistan became a country. Unlike other countries in Asia, it is also very hard to get access to the Country as visas are very difficult to obtain. As a result there are no tourists and thus no extra income from them.
As a result The Ukraine war was just the cherry on the top for the Turkmen people, they were suffering before in their economies compared to the rest of the world.