Alexei Vlasov: Kazakhstan's Maksimov and Nazarbayev achieve higher level of relations

Today the work on composition of the new ministers’ cabinet began in Kazakhstan. It is headed by the new prime minister Serik Ahmetov. Yesterday the president Nursultan Nazarbayev dismissed the longstanding premier Karim Maksimov and appointed him to the position of the presidential administration’s head. The editor-in-chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, Alexei Vlasov, thinks that “a chain of staff shuffling in the Kazakh government is ended. On Friday the position of the head of the presidential administration became vacant. Yesterday the most longstanding Premier Karim Maksimov resigned. Now Nazarbayev has an opportunity to put key figures in a new order. The former head of the PA, Aslan Musin, became the head of the Accounts Committee, and nobody can predict what role will be played by the Accounts Committee in the context of anti-corruption campaign.”

Vlasov stated that “Karim Maksimov can be called the most successful prime minister in the history of independent Kazakhstan. The point is not in statistics which confirms economic achievements by the country. The main thing is that Maksimov was the prime minister who “settled problems” and became irreplaceable for Nazarbayev. Maksimov is one of rare Kazakh top officials who managed to combine skills of a manager and a wise politician.”

Speaking about the successor of Maksimov as a premier, the editor-in-chief of VK noted that “Serik Ahmetov is an experienced householder who prefer to deal with certain businesses rather than with political intrigues. Nazarbayev gave him high appraisal when presented Ahmetov as a new prime minister.”

However, “the final internal political situation in Ak Orda will be determined in future several days,” the Russian political scientist concluded.