Russia\'s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 3 June expressing concern at a new Turkmen policy on recognizing foreign diplomas. According to numerous reports, on 1 June Turkmenistan stopped recognizing foreign diplomas earned after 1993; Turkmen officials have said recently that they are merely \"verifying\" the validity of foreign degrees, however. The Foreign Ministry statement charges that Turkmenistan has mothballed a 2001 Russian proposal to conclude a joint diploma-recognition accord. The statement goes on to note that the new diploma policy unfairly targets Turkmenistan\'s Russian-speaking population and \"will only increase Turkmenistan\'s self-isolation.\" Turkmen Embassy officials in Moscow told the news agency that the new rules are intended to verify existing degrees and weed out \"illegally obtained\" diplomas. (RIA-Novosti)