Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan links Aktobe attacks to Syrian imam

ALMATY, JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s interior minister, Kalmukhanbet Kassymov, said attacks earlier this month in Aktobe by two dozen armed men had been ordered from Syria, the strongest suggestion yet that the government linked the violence to the extremist group ISIS.

His comments appeared to clear up an inconsistency in the Kazakh authorities’ explanation on the motives behind the attacks.

After the initial attack on June 5 on two shops and a police outpost in Aktobe, the authorities had alluded to a link with ISIS but a few days later President Nursultan Nazarbayev then suggested they had been part of an attempted colour revolution sponsored by the West. Coloured revolution means, in the FSU, a pro-Western, foreign-funded movement.

Now, though, the government line appears settled.

Mr Kassymov said that up to 45 men had gathered in an apartment before the first attack.

“When they all gathered in an apartment, they listened to an address from a so-called imam, apparently from Syria, who said that they needed to carry out a sacred jihad,” Russian media quoted him as saying. “The investigation will prove this.”

He also said that the last few gunmen who had escaped the shoot- out on June 5 had now been captured or killed. He said that, in total, 18 gunmen had been killed and nine arrested.

Three security officers and four civilians were also killed in the attacks, in the most serious in Kazakhstan’s 25 years of independence.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Editorial: Kazakhstan’s financial stimulus

JUNE 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – It’s been a tough year for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, perhaps one of the toughest. The economy has flat-lined, worrying investors and locals, who have seen jobs disappear and the value of their tenge savings fall.

Unprecedented anti-government protests swept across Kazakhstan in April and May and in June gunmen alleged to have had links to radical Islamists in Syria attacked targets in Aktobe, killing several people.

Mr Nazarbayev has already staged a parliamentary election, a favourite tactic of his to shore up support. This worked only momentarily. Now he has had to spend big. He’s chucked $712m at the economy in a Keynesian attempt to breathe life into it and create jobs and wealth.

Will it work? It’s unclear. He’s picked small and medium-sized companies and house building to target. These are good targets. Mr Nazarbayev is looking to help out ordinary Kazakhs directly. And it’s the same message with the house-building.

Of course, though, there are serious pitfalls. The plan could be badly implemented, money wasted or stolen.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

WWF suspends Kazakh athletes

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Weightlifting Federation said four Kazakh athletes, Svetlana Podobedova, Maya Maneza, Zulfiya Chinshanlo and Ilya Ilyin, took performance-enhancing drugs at the 2012 London Olympic Games. All four athletes will now be suspended from global competition, including the Rio Olympics this summer. Mr Ilyin, twice Olympic gold medallist, said he was shocked by the news and denied having taken drugs. The ban will be a major blow to Kazakhstan’s medal hopes.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Uber starts operating in Kazakh capital, challenging gypsy cab system

ALMATY, JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uber started operations in Astana, posing a major challenge to Kazakhstan’s taxi industry which, like much of the rest of the former Soviet Union, has been based on an informal gypsy cab system for generations.

But the San Francisco-based ride-hailing app said in a statement that the service would only be offered with electronic payments, potentially creating an obstacle in the stubbornly cash-oriented economy.

Traditionally, taxi rides in Kazakhstan are a matter of flagging any private car down and then haggling a price. Cash is the only way of paying.

Astana residents, backed this up. They said that fixed prices and cashless payments will act as a brake on Uber’s popularity.

“The inability to negotiate the price will surely make rides more expensive,” said Alberto, an expat working for an European consultancy in Astana.

“The city government is trying to eliminate gipsy cabs ahead of the EXPO next year, but the cashless-only payment option will deter local travellers from using Uber.”

Electronic payments make up around 15% of total commercial transactions in Kazakhstan, according to the Central Bank, compared to a global average of 25% and a European average of around 50%.

In Uber’s experience, the payment system could change, though.

Months after Uber rolled out its service in Baku in April 2015, the company listened to its customers’ demands and introduced a cash option for paying their rides.

Uber said it chose Astana for its growth opportunities. “Astana is a dream-city, a city of the future and big opportunities,” it said.

Uber is not the first taxi app to tap into the Kazakh market. A long-haul Russian service, called InDriver, launched in Kazakhstan,Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Users said InDriver’s clunky technology made it hard to use.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakh President orders $712m economic stimulus

ALMATY, JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — With economic activity in Kazakhstan faltering, President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered his government to spend 240b tenge (around $712m) on supporting small and medium-sized companies as well as building thousands of new houses.

Mr Nazarbayev is under increasing pressure to shore up his support by boosting the economy against a 50% fall in the value of the tenge, rising unemployment and inflation. In April and May anti-government protests swept across the country in the most widespread anti-government challenge to Mr Nazarbayev’s 25-year rule.

The Presidential press service said the cash would come from the Republican budget, a phrase that Kazakh civil servants use to refer to Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Kashagan to start production in October

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s PM Karim Massimov said that Kashagan, the country’s largest oilfield will start production in October 2016. Mr Massimov challenged the consortium members – which include Exxon, Kazmunaigas, Total, Eni, Shell and Inpex – to meet the government’s production plans and resume production at the Caspian Sea field, which had briefly started pumping oil in 2013, before damaged pipes forced its closure.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Emigration in Kazakhstan increases

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Statistics Committee said that immigration into Kazakhstan decreased by 25%, while emigration out of the country increased by 16% in the first four months of the year, highlighting a rapid outward pressure for Kazakhstan’s population. Net outflow measured 3,521 people. It did not give a reason for the high outflow but it may be connected to the poor economic conditions.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakh Tsesnabank completes bank deal

JUNE 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tsesnabank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, completed its takeover of Russian Plus Bank by buying a 14.7% stake from UAE based Linex Global. Tsesnabank, which had bought a controlling stake in Plus Bank in January, now owns 99% of the bank. Adilbek Dzhaksybekov, mayor of Astana, owns Tsesnabank.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakh President’s nephew to invest in car-making

JUNE 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kairat Satybaldy, the eldest nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Vyacheslav Kim, both linked to Kaspi Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s most prominent high street banks, bought into AllurGroup, a carmaker with its main operations in Kostanai, in the north of the country. Through Alatau Invest Capital, a financial vehicle, Mr Satybaldy has said he wants to invest in the car-making industry.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kazakh authorities accuse imprisoned businessman of coup attempt

SHYMKENT/Kazakhstan, JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Kazakhstan accused imprisoned Kazakh businessman Tokhtar Tuleshov of stirring protests across the country in April and May in an attempt to overthrow the government.

The protests morphed from a demonstration in Atyrau in the west of the country against proposed land reforms into country-wide demonstrations against the government and the worsening economic scenario.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has already sacked a couple of ministers over the handling of the land reform issue as well as two senior interior ministry officials but some analysts said that he is still looking to deflect blame for the protests away from his government.

The National Security Committee have now said that Mr Tuleshov, who was arrested in Shymkent in the south of the country, in January on various corruption and gun running charges has been plotting for the past year to overthrow the government.

Quoting a National Security Committee spokesperson, media said that Tuleshov’s “plan included destabilising the situation in the country by creating flash points, organising protests and mass unrest.”

Over the weekend, police also arrested a deputy prosecutor-general and two senior military officers for involvement in the plan.

It’s not clear, though, how Tuleshov would have organised this from prison and other analysts were quick to rubbish the theory.

Rasul Zhumaly, a former Kazakh diplomat and now a political analyst, said that Tuleshov was too well-connected to the establishment to risk attempting a coup.

“He had powerful patrons in Russia and Kazakhstan, even among military representatives, and his activity in pro-Kremlin propaganda,” he said.

“It’s more likely that these official charges are nothing but an attempt to find a fall guy and make him responsible for everything.”

Tuleshov was based in Shymkent near the border with Uzbekistan. He was the representative of a Russia- linked military think tank in Kazakhstan and also the CEO of Shymkentpivo, one of the country’s biggest breweries.

In Shymkent, people said that Tuleshov had been targeted because officials coveted his business.

“Tokhtar had a big profitable busi- ness, his family had everything, so there was no need for him to go against current authorities,” said Galina, 38.

“It seems like his business was very attractive for someone.”

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)