An official of Russia’s Gazprom company said that the volumes of Turkmen gas exports to Russia were 5bcm in the first four months of 2010, whereas in the similar period of 2011 the amount fell to 2.7bcm. On the one hand, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, at a meeting with Russia’s outgoing envoy Igor Blatov said that Turkmenistan welcomes participation of Russian companies in the implementation of large-scale projects in Turkmenistan especially in the energy sector. However, energy cooperation between the two countries has clearly changed in recent years, with less Turkmen dependence on Russia as Turkmenistan diversifies its relationships and exports.