Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev,
is considered the most likely successor, the president's advisor on
political affairs, Yermuhamet Yertysbayev, said in an interview with
Kommersant.
He also said that Nazarbayev's visit to Germany is part of the
president's medical examination schedule, which he undergoes twice a
year.
Yertysbayev commented on the criticism of Kulibayev by Mukhtar
Ablyazov, the London-based former head of WTB-Bank. The advisor said
that Kulibayev is the main opponent of Ablyazov. Yertysbayev added
that Ablyazov's statement that Prime Minister Karim Masimov would
become the successor is groundless.
The interview is part of the plan to "legitimize" the
Kulibayev-Masimov tandem as successors to the president,
Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza Alexey Vlasov believes.
Nazarbayev wants Ak Ordu to make clearer variants for a power switch
in the case of any accident occuring.
