The two high-profile «failures» of Anuar Sadykulov related to Aysultan Nazarbayev and the Leader of the Nation’s third wife served as the reason for appointing Kalmukhanbet Kasymov the Chief of the State Security Service (SSS).

We have already commented on Kalmukhanbet Kasymov’s appointment and his replacement as the Secretary of Kazakhstan’s Security Council by Aset Isekeshev. Let us remind you that, according to our sources, the reason for such high-profile personnel moves on the part of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kossym-Jomart Tokayev (the moves that, undoubtedly, had been approved by Nursultan Nazarbayev) lied in the acute necessity to patch «the holes».

Here is a quote from our publication:

«…Kazakhstan’s State Security Service, one the most inaccessible secret service agencies to the press, the experts and the general public, had seriously ceded its ground under the leadership of Sadykulov. Its staff started to include too many people who got their positions through good connections and those who may be loyal to Nazarbayev personally but, as professionals, were not even nearly on par with the required level. The chaos in the agency intensified by the fact the now the State Security Service must watch over not only the Leader of the Nation and the members of his large family but his successor as well was the unavoidable consequence of this. By the looks of it, they are trying to restore the order by replacing the management».

Let us confirm our view by citing the information received from the other sources associated with the State Security Service. According to them, former Chief of the SSS Anuar Sadykulov was clearly not the right man for the job: not having the specialized education, he had made a career as a «lichnik», in other words, someone whose job is to ensure personal safety. Apart from that, he does not have good managerial skills. It is for this reason that, under his leadership, the secret service agency had «failed» on a regular basis especially when its officers had to act in the non-standard circumstances. Abroad, for instance.

Last year’s arrest of Aysultan Nazarbayev in London serves as an example of one such failure. The problem was that the grandson of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan was safeguarded not by the SSS officers but by the employees of a private security agency hired by the Kazakh authorities. These people were trained and hired to defend the safeguarded person but not to keep him away from unwise moves and especially not to rescue him from the British policemen or to cover up his transgressions.

Another, more serious, failure on the part of the SSS also has to do with Nursultan Nazarbayev’s family. Last fall, the Leader of the Nation, together with his third wife Asel Isabayeva, made a private visit to the UK capital. However, this time, their trip was not devoid of adventures in which Bergey Ryskaliyev (former Governor of the Atyrau region who was close to ex-Chief of the Presidential Administration Aslan Musin) had played his part.

After the Zhanaozen tragedy of 2011, Bergey Ryskaliyev and his brother, a member of the Kazakh Parliament, were accused (quite justifiably so, in our opinion) of committing numerous crimes and sentenced to many years of prison. However, as part of a secret deal between Akorda and Musin, the brothers were given an opportunity to flee to the UK where they have settled.

Trying to pressurize Nursultan Nazarbayev, Bergey Ryskaliyev, with the help of his people, organized the surveillance of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in London as well as the attack on the latter’s wife (read The Secrets of One Hyde Park https://kz.media/archives/1304 and How Bergey Ryskaliyev And Co. Blackmailed Nazarbayev  https://kz.media/archives/2493 — texts available in Russian).

With that, according to our insider, Bergey Ryskaliyev had reached his goals: he was paid a large amount of money and then went silent. Unfortunately, our source does not have information on either the size of the payment or how it was made — via a transfer to the UK bank account, or to the offshore accounts, or in cash.

So, in this instance, the State Security Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan was unable to ensure the safety of the safeguarded persons even though it employed enough officers as well as a number of employees of a private security agency.

According to the sources, the SSS officers themselves have a low opinion of Anuar Sadykulov and believe that he has, de-facto, destroyed the agency. What is curious, in terms of his inefficiency as a leader, he is often being compared with Aman Shabdarbayev, former Chief of the Presidential Security Service and the NSC Chief who had also started his career as a «lichnik» of Dinmukhabet Kunayev, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.

It is not at all surprising that Nursultan Nazarbayev who is always more than attentive to the matter of his personal safety got furious and, in the end, made a decision to appoint Kalmukhanbet Kasymov the Chief of the State Security Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The latter is an experienced policeman, a person with good managerial skills and, what is important, a person capable of making tough and ruthless decisions such as the shoot out of the Zhanaozen civilians that happened on December 16, 2011.