On October 4, a senior Turkmen official — Hydyr Rahmanov, director general of the joint-stock company Demirýollary (Turkmen railways) — was detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.Russian customs officials found LSD in his belongings, and a criminal case was opened on charges of large-scale trafficking of psychoactive substances.
A court ordered Rahmanov held in a pretrial detention center for the duration of the investigation.According to a turkmen.news source, Turkmenistan’s security services and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov are personally working to secure his release.Two independent sources confirmed Rahmanov’s detention to turkmen.news.
Rahmanov arrived in Moscow from Ashgabat on an S7 Airlines flight on October 4.As he later told the court, Moscow was a transit stop on his way to Yessentuki a Russian city renowned for its mineral springs and therapeutic spas, where he planned to receive gastrointestinal treatment.He was accompanied by his assistant — who is also his lover — and she drew the attention of customs officers.
When they inspected the personal belongings of Rahmanov and his companion, they found the synthetic psychoactive substance LSD in his possession.A copy of judge Dina Hansi’s ruling from the Domodedovo City Court on the pretrial restraint measure was obtained by turkmen.news.
The document lists Rahmanov’s workplace as “International Turkmen Logistics,” where he is allegedly employed as an ordinary logistics worker.According to the database of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan, the company’s director is Gichgeldi Kurbanov, a former high-ranking Foreign Ministry official.Notably, this company is among those responsible for air pollution in Serahs, where dozens of tons of sulfur lie in the open air.
Local residents appealed to Serdar and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, but instead of addressing the problem, security services began threatening those who complained.According to a turkmen.news source, Rahmanov is not an ordinary logistics worker at the company but its actual owner.
The court documents list him as the company’s founder.What is certain, however, is that Rahmanov is also a government official — a fact he chose to conceal from the Russian court.The same UIET database shows that Rahmanov is the director of OJSC Demirýollary, the primary operator of Turkmenistan’s state railroad infrastructure.
The company was created in 2020 by a decree of then-President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the basis of the Turkmendemirýollary agency (now the Ministry of Railroad Transport).Demirýollary owns part of Turkmenistan’s rail infrastructure, manages passenger and freight transportation, and builds bridges and other railroad-related structures.Rahmanov’s date of birth listed in the court ruling matches the UIEt records, and his home address is the same as the one in the database of Turkmenistan’s only mobile operator Altyn Asyr.Top part: UIET record showing Rahmanov being Demiryollary’s director.
Lower part: record from Altyn Asyr showing his address that matches the one in court paperAccording to one turkmen.news source, Hydyr Rahmanov’s brother, Arkach Rahmanov, is an officer in the Turkmen president’s security service.
Another source said that efforts to shield Hydyr Rahmanov from criminal prosecution involve not only his nephew (whose occupation is unknown) but also representatives of Turkmenistan’s security services.
They recently traveled to Russia for talks with local law enforcement.But they are not the only ones advocating for the head of Demirýollary — the effort is being coordinated personally by Turkmenistan’s foreign minister, Rashid Meredov.
He learned of Rahmanov’s detention the same day and immediately called Turkmenistan’s ambassador to Russia, Esen Aydogdyev.The ambassador, in turn, brought in Mikhail Pereplesnin, editor-in-chief of the Turkmenistan magazine and the website Turkmenistan.ru.
The plan was to get Rahmanov released quickly and without drawing media attention.Mikhail PereplesninBy a ruling issued October 6, the judge ordered Rahmanov held in pretrial detention until December 4.
His attorney petitioned for house arrest at the residence of Rahmanov’s business partner in Russia.But the judge found the prosecutor’s and investigator’s arguments more compelling — namely, that Rahmanov could flee the country while facing charges under Part 3 of Article 229.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which concerns large-scale trafficking of psychoactive substances.
The potential sentence is up to 20 years in prison.The court has still not published the document on its website; as users are warned, “not all categories of cases are subject to publication.” But Rahmanov’s case does not fall under matters involving sexual integrity, adoption, limits on legal capacity or other protected topics.
It appears the delay in posting the court ruling was made possible by the Foreign Ministry’s intervention.The role played by Turkmen diplomats in the case is not particularly unusual: embassies around the world cover up the missteps of privileged citizens and smooth over image problems.
What stands out here is the nature of the case itself.In Turkmenistan, people detained on similar charges are subjected to brutal torture, while charges are fabricated against activists and members of ethnic minorities — after which Turkmen diplomats go before international bodies to defend the government against the most egregious abuses.Meanwhile, high-ranking officials freely procure opium for their parties or, as in Rahmanov’s case, carry banned substances across borders.
And instead of investigating their actions, Turkmenistan spends state funds to extract them from trouble and shield them.At the same time, these same officials, holding their posts, loot and dismantle the sectors they oversee: Turkmenistan’s once-developed railway network has been practically taken apart, regional routes shut down, and a genuine railway crime ring is profiting off ticket sales.