A long-time confidant of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Vladimir Ni, died on Thursday after a long illness, leaving a gap in the inner circle that surrounds the veteran leader of Central Asia's largest economy. Ni, who was 77, was a board member of copper miner Kazakhmys . The group announced his death in a statement on Friday.
"Mr. Ni, first and foremost, was one of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's longest serving and most faithful associates, a representative of the old guard," Andrei Chebotaryov, director of the Alternative think tank, said. "His passing is a major loss for the president and his circle of associates," he said, adding: "Tthe president needs seriously to think about his personnel and create new, younger groups of associates."
Nazarbayev, 70, who has ruled Kazakhstan for more than 20 years, has never publicly named his chosen successor.
The intensifying succession struggle among Kazakhstan's political elite is often cited as the single biggest investment risk in the nation of 16 million people, the world's largest uranium miner and home to the biggest oil discovery in 40 years.
Several groups led by Nazarbayev's relatives and allies are competing for influence in Kazakhstan. Some former members of the inner circle have fallen out of favour with the president and left the country, leading to the redistribution of assets and brief periods of instability.
Ni, who had Korean roots, always was part of the inner circle. Born in 1933 in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, he qualified as a mining engineer before serving -- like Nazarbayev -- in the government of the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. "Ni fell into the category of grey cardinal; a man who spent a very long time side-by-side with the president and had his ear. In Kazakhstan, this is very important," said Almaty-based political analyst Dosym Satpayev. A former government employee, who declined to be named, described Ni as a "very significant figure" who played a key role in running the affairs of Kazakhstan's Communist party in Soviet times.
"He kept a very low profile, but he was a key link between the local clan of rich Koreans and the nation's leader," the source said. "One cannot rule out that the influence of the Koreans in society may begin to subside after his death."
(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov in Almaty and Raushan Nurshayeva in Astana, writing by Robin Paxton, editing by Michael Roddy)
By Olga Orininskaya and Maria Gordeyeva ALMATY, Sept 10 (Reuters)
