Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday accepted the resignation
of Prime Minister Karim Massimov.
A government source said Massimov's place will be taken by First
Deputy Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov -- a close ally of Nazarbayev who
has also sworn allegiance to the resource-rich nation's only
post-Soviet head of state.
"Massimov will head the presidential administration of Kazakhstan," an
unnamed government source told the RIA Novosti news agency.
Explaining the reasons for the change, Nazarbayev said that it
happened "because the prime minister appealed to resign; he did it
the year before. When a person is tired and wants to change their
position, saying that a new man is needed, I had to listen and
accepted his resignation".
