ST. PETERSBURG, June 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will pay an official visit to the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan in early July.

"Today's conversation can be continued during my official visit to Ashgabat at the beginning of July," Medvedev told Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov at an informal summit of CIS leaders in St. Petersburg.

During the visit on July 4-5, the presidents are expected to sign a number of bilateral cooperation documents. "Turkmenistan has always said that Russia is its strategic partner," the Turkmen leader said.

Turkmenistan, with annual gas output of 80 billion cubic meters, is the biggest natural gas producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia. Some 50 billion cubic meters are exported to Russia and 10 billion cubic meters bought by neighboring Iran.

Later on Friday, the Russian leader told his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, that they "would be able to discuss cooperation issues" during his visit to Baku on July 3-4.

Medvedev received the invitation to visit Turkmenistan in March, shortly after he won a landslide victory in Russia's presidential elections. Aliyev invited Medvedev to visit the country in May.

Medvedev, 42, was inaugurated as Russia's third president since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 on May 7, taking over from Vladimir Putin, who was approved as the country's premier a day later.

The president's first foreign visits following his inauguration were to Kazakhstan and China on May 22-24. On Thursday, Medvedev arrived in Germany on his first European trip since becoming president.