An internal elite power struggle in Kazakhstan? | DW News

Security forces appear to have quelled massive riots in Kazakhstan, although the political situation remains volatile. Karim Masimov, a close ally of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been arrested for treason.

The former head of Kazakhstan's domestic intelligence agency has been arrested on suspicion of high treason, the National Security Committee said Saturday.

The news comes after dozens of people were killed in protests triggered by a surge in fuel prices. On Friday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared that constitutional order has been "mainly restored" in the Central Asian country, with peacekeepers from Russia and several other ex-Soviet countries now in Kazakhstan.

Former intelligence chief Karim Masimov was fired earlier in the week as protests raged across the country. Authorities have now said Masimov and several other officials have been detained. The protests have also prompted President Tokayev to remove his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev as head of the Security Council.

On Saturday, however, Nazarbayev's spokesman Aidos Ukibay said the former president "calls on everyone to rally around the president of Kazakhstan to overcome current challenges and ensure the integrity of the country."


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