Kazakhstan president fires defence minister for lack of leadership during protests
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Kazakhstan president fires defence minister for lack of leadership during protests

World+Biz

Reuters
19 January, 2022, 09:50 pm
Last modified: 19 January, 2022, 09:51 pm

Related News

  • Kazakhstan to hold constitutional reform referendum on 5 June
  • Kazakhstan security forces on high alert in Almaty amid calls for fresh protests
  • Kazakhstan says 225 bodies delivered to morgues during unrest
  • Russia-led bloc starts pulling troops out of Kazakhstan
  • Russian troops to quit Kazakhstan, says president, taking aim at the elite

Kazakhstan president fires defence minister for lack of leadership during protests

The removal of Murat Bektanov marked the latest stage in Tokayev's purge of the security establishment as he consolidates power after violent protests shook the former Soviet republic in the first week of January

Reuters
19 January, 2022, 09:50 pm
Last modified: 19 January, 2022, 09:51 pm
A view shows a burning police car during a protest against LPG cost rise following the Kazakh authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 5, 2022. Photo :Reuters
A view shows a burning police car during a protest against LPG cost rise following the Kazakh authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 5, 2022. Photo :Reuters

Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev fired his defence minister on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to show leadership and initiative when the Central Asian country was rocked by its worst unrest in 30 years of independence.

The removal of Murat Bektanov marked the latest stage in Tokayev's purge of the security establishment as he consolidates power after violent protests shook the former Soviet republic in the first week of January.

"During the January events the armed forces, due to the fact that their leadership was highly uncertain and lacking in initiative, were unable to worthily fulfil the tasks assigned to them," Tokayev said in a damning rebuke, accusing the minister of failing to show "commanding qualities".

Tokayev was forced to call in troops from a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet states to quell the unrest, which damaged the image of stability and control that Kazakhstan has used to attract hundreds of billions of dollars of Western investment in its oil and mining industries.

The prosecutor general's office has said at least 225 people were killed.

Tokayev replaced Bektanov with Ruslan Zhaksylykov, previously deputy interior minister and head of the national guard. He said the armed forces needed thorough modernisation and better military intelligence "to provide the leadership of the country with timely and reliable information about external and internal threats".

Tokayev became president in 2019 but his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev had continued to wield significant power as head of the influential Security Council.

During the unrest, he stripped Nazarbayev of that post and removed his nephew as deputy head of intelligence. Three sons-in-law of Nazarbayev have resigned from senior positions at state companies and a business lobby group.

Nazarbayev, 81, appeared on television on Tuesday to deny any rift in the ruling elite, saying he had retired from public life and Tokayev was fully in charge of the country.

Kazakhstan / Kazakhstan anti-government protest / Kazakhstan defense minister

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Central bankers’ refusal to embark into ‘hard helicopter money’ experiment have been a good idea. Photo: Reuters
    Interbank exchange rate for dollar set at Tk89
  • A Regio regional passenger train operated by Deutsche Bahn AG travels on a bridge in Berlin. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
    Why Germany is offering a summer of cheap trains
  • Patients opting to delay crucial treatment amid rising costs
    Patients opting to delay crucial treatment amid rising costs

MOST VIEWED

  • Far-right politician Naftali Bennett delivers a statement in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, in Jerusalem May 30, 2021. Yonatan Sindel/Pool via REUTERS
    Iranian 'immunity' is over, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett says
  • An image created during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1996 to 1997, shows the arms and torso of a patient with skin lesions due to monkeypox. Photo: Reuters
    Monkeypox symptoms usually occur in these 4 stages
  • Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan poses for a photograph with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (not pictured) during the NATO summit at the Alliance's headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, June 14, 2021. Kenzo Tribouillard/Pool via REUTERS
    Erdogan says won't let 'terrorism-supporting' countries enter NATO
  • File Photo: BSS/AFP
    At least 27 civilians killed in DR Congo massacre
  • A woman goes through the process of finger scanning for the Unique Identification (UID) database system, also known as Aadhaar, at a registration centre in New Delhi, India, January 17, 2018. REUTERS/Saumya Khandelwal/File Photo
    India withdraws warning on national biometric ID after online panic
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Sochi, Russia on 25 November 2021. Photo: Reuters
    Serbia's President says agreed 3-year gas supply contract with Putin

Related News

  • Kazakhstan to hold constitutional reform referendum on 5 June
  • Kazakhstan security forces on high alert in Almaty amid calls for fresh protests
  • Kazakhstan says 225 bodies delivered to morgues during unrest
  • Russia-led bloc starts pulling troops out of Kazakhstan
  • Russian troops to quit Kazakhstan, says president, taking aim at the elite

Features

Central bankers’ refusal to embark into ‘hard helicopter money’ experiment have been a good idea. Photo: Reuters

Venice has a 400-year-old Covid monetary lesson

2h | Panorama
Aiman R Khan. Illustration: TBS

Why ‘marry your rapist’ court orders are not always what they seem

5h | Thoughts
Photo: Collected

Top 3 The Ordinary products that give extraordinary results

7h | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

KVN Beauty: Channel your inner Bangalee baddie

7h | Mode

More Videos from TBS

Paper industry worth thousands of crores in Bogura

Paper industry worth thousands of crores in Bogura

2h | Videos
Photo: TBS

Tips to help you become a successful lawyer

8h | Videos
People bid adieu to Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury

People bid adieu to Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury

8h | Videos
Photo: TBS

Harassment over 'indecent clothing': Women gather at Narsingdi railway station to protest, show solidarity

8h | Videos

Most Read

1
Bangladesh Bank GM, DGM’s designation changed
Banking

Bangladesh Bank GM, DGM’s designation changed

2
Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards
NBR

Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards

3
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

Misfit Technologies: A Singaporean startup rooted firmly in Bangladesh

4
British International Investment (BII) CEO Nick O’Donohoe. Illustration: TBS
Economy

BII to invest $450m in Bangladesh in 5 years

5
Representational image. Picture: Pixabay
Economy

Govt raises regulatory duty to discourage imports of 130 products

6
Photo: Collected
Industry

Spanish recycled cotton producer opens new facility in Bangladesh

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab