Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied media reports that Russian Ambassador to Ashgabat Andrei Molochkov had been recalled

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied media reports that Russian Ambassador to Ashgabat Andrei Molochkov had been recalled, Interfax reports. Andrei Molochkov left Ashgabat due to "on the one hand, the situation with his work, which was connected to staff rotation, and on the other – humanitarian circumstances," Lavrov told Russian reporters in Jakarta on Thursday. According to the Minister Ambassador Andrei Molochkov worked “for quite a long time” in Ashgabat. The Russian Foreign Minister said the main reason for Molochkov's departure from Turkmenistan were "family tragedies - his wife and brother died almost simultaneously - and he himself underwent serious surgery, after which doctors categorically forbade him to be abroad." "We cannot ignore the doctors' firm opinion," Sergei Lavrov said. Andrei Molochkov was appointed Russian Ambassador to Ashgabat in August 2003. Before this appointment he served as Charge d’affaires of Russia in Turkmenistan.