Intelligence chief detained amid deadly riots enjoyed close links with Beijing
Fortunes turned quickly for Karim Massimov. Kazakhstan’s former intelligence chief was once seen as a contender to succeed the country’s powerful founding president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
But during a week of deadly unrest that Kazakh authorities said was directed by foreign-trained terrorists, Massimov was sacked as head of the National Security Committee and a day later arrested on suspicion of treason on Thursday.
Little is known about the circumstances under which he was detained – the Kazakh government only went public with his arrest three days later.
Massimov is widely seen as a close ally of former president Nazarbayev and also a China hand within Kazakhstan’s government.
After Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, its economy was stagnating. As the country struggled through a transition to a more market-oriented economy, Massimov was active in the realm of international trade.
He started as a legal adviser at a USSR trade mission in China in 1991. Later, he was sent to Urumqi, over the border in China’s far-west Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, where he was a senior specialist at a Kazakh trade office from 1992 to 1993.
Massimov had earlier studied Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University, and read international law at Wuhan University.
Massimov was promoted to the cabinet in 2000 as Kazakhstan’s transport and communications minister, becoming deputy prime minister from 2001 to 2003 and briefly again in 2006.
Early on, Massimov pushed for Kazakhstan to become a member of the World Trade Organization by “closely coordinating” its relations with China.
On a visit to Beijing for talks on furthering economic ties between the two neighbours, then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji told Massimov: “I am always at your service in this effort. If something goes wrong, please address me personally – after all, we are old friends.”
Massimov’s China connection only got stronger during two stints as Kazakhstan’s prime minister.
On his many visits to China, Massimov signed agreements covering areas for cooperation ranging from finance to agriculture and power.
More recently, Kazakhstan became a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a vast trade and infrastructure scheme. China has offered support for the Kazakh government as it faces its worst crisis since independence 30 years ago, after protests against rising fuel prices last week turned violent, with 164 people killed, the government said on Sunday.