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Kazakhstan President Says He’ll Provide Proof of “Attempted Coup”

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev claimed Monday that unnamed actors had orchestrated an “attempted coup d’etat” against him and said he would soon provide evidence.
Kazakhstan president says he'll provide proof of "attempted coup"
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (center, at front) is inaugurated as president of Kazakhstan in 2019 as former dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev (top right) looks on. Photo: Pavel Aleksandrov/TASS via Getty

Axios

What's happening: Authorities announced Saturday that powerful intelligence chief Karim Massimov — a close ally of former dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev — had been arrested on suspicion of treason. Nazarbayev has himself vanished from view after being ousted last Wednesday from his role as head of the security council.

The backstory: Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan from independence in 1990 through 2019, when he handed the presidency to Tokayev but continued as security council chief and the apparent power behind the throne. Multiple members of Nazerbayev's family have become billionaires due to the family's control of much of the oil-rich country's economy.

  • The former president's spokesman on Saturday denied claims that the 81-year-old and his family had fled the country. Nazarbayev, the spokesman claimed, is in regular touch with Tokayev and continues to support him.
  • But the purge of Nazarbayev loyalists since last Wednesday signals there is a battle underway within the Kazakh elite.

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