This study investigates how the talent management (TM) practices of talent attraction, development, and retention contribute to organizational ambidexterity (OA) and firm performance in the context of Russia. Based on a cross-sectional data set of 88 local Russian firms, we investigate the association between the TM practices and OA dimensions and examine the role of exploration and exploitation in the TM–performance relationship. The ordinary least squares regression results show that the effects of talent attraction on exploration, talent development on exploitation, and talent retention on both OA dimensions are significant and positive. Meanwhile, the simple and parallel mediation analyses (using the Hayes' PROCESS program) demonstrate that OA, particularly exploration, mediates the TM–performance relationship. This study contributes to the overall literature on TM and ambidexterity by considering TM practices as crucial antecedents of OA and explaining how and why TM positively affect firm performance.