{"id":11614,"date":"2019-03-25T07:47:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T07:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=11614"},"modified":"2019-03-24T21:07:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T21:07:04","slug":"news-in-russian-kazakhstan-president-steps-down-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/news-in-russian-kazakhstan-president-steps-down-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Russian: Kazakhstan President Steps Down (Sort Of)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A big story from the post-Soviet region (\u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0441\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0301\u0442\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0435 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/strong>) is that the president of Kazakhstan (\u041a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0445\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0301\u043d<\/strong>) has resigned after nearly 30 years in power. Since Russian has official status<\/a> in Kazakhstan and since this story is being widely covered in Russian-language media in several countries, I thought we should look at how it’s being reported.<\/p>\n

\"mosque

Hazret Sultan Mosque
Photo by Azamat Kinzhitaev<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

President Who?<\/h2>\n

While Borat<\/a> is often the only reference point for Kazakhstan in the West, this country has the largest economy in Central Asia<\/a>, so understandably, its neighbors are watching the situation closely. President Nursultan Nazarbayev (Russian: \u041d\u0443\u0440\u0441\u0443\u043b\u0442\u0430\u0301\u043d \u041d\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0440\u0431\u0430\u0301\u0435\u0432<\/strong>, Kazakh: \u041d\u04b1\u0440\u0441\u04b1\u043b\u0442\u0430\u043d \u041d\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0440\u0431\u0430\u0435\u0432) was the first president of independent Kazakhstan and had been in power since 1990\u2014longer than Vladimir Putin (\u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438\u0301\u043c\u0438\u0440 \u041f\u0443\u0301\u0442\u0438\u043d<\/strong>) or the president of Belarus (\u0411\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0440\u0443\u0301\u0441\u044c<\/strong>) Aleksandr Lukashenko<\/a> (Russian: \u0410\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0434\u0440 \u041b\u0443\u043a\u0430\u0448\u0435\u0301\u043d\u043a\u043e<\/strong>, Byelorussian: \u0410\u043b\u044f\u043a\u0441\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0434\u0440 \u041b\u0443\u043a\u0430\u0448\u044d\u0301\u043d\u043a\u0430).<\/p>\n

Even though Nazarbayev has stepped down as president, he has retained his positions as head of the Security Council (\u0441<\/strong>\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0301\u0442 \u0431\u0435\u0437\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0301\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/strong>) and leader of the ruling party. Some commentators in Russia have been carefully watching the Kazakhstani scenario as a possible model for transferring power in Russia in the future.<\/p>\n

Here is a snippet of Nazarbayev’s resignation speech:<\/p>\n

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#Nazarbayev<\/a> resigns
\u041d\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0440\u0431\u0430\u0435\u0432 \u043e\u0431\u044a\u044f\u0432\u0438\u043b \u043e\u0431 \u043e\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u043a\u0435 \u0432\u043e \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f \u043e\u0431\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f \u043a \u043d\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438 pic.twitter.com\/yals02j6Cs<\/a><\/p>\n

— Pocket TV (@Pocket_TV_RU) March 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n