Day: April 25, 2025

Kyrgyzstan is set to host its first-ever ultramarathon around Issyk-Kul Lake, one of the world’s largest high-altitude lakes, between May 5 and 10. The event, titled the 1st Issyk Kul Six-Day Challenge, is billed as the world’s longest six-stage foot race, covering a total distance of 460 kilometers.

The ultramarathon will take place over six days and six grueling stages: 90 km, 74 km, 87 km, 85 km, 79 km, and 45 km. Participants will race on a mix of asphalt, gravel roads, and dirt trails at elevations reaching up to 2,000 meters above sea level. Participation is capped at 100 runners.

The racecourse has been carefully planned not only to circumnavigate the entire lake but also to showcase some of Kyrgyzstan’s most dramatic landscapes, including the otherworldly Fairy Tale Canyon and the striking rock formations of the Seven Bulls.

“Issyk-Kul has been a place of power for many great marathoners, including Olympic champion Valentina Egorova and Olympic bronze medalist Satymkul Dzhumanazarov,” said Alex Golowin, Race Director and Head Coach at Running Expert. “We at Running Expert have been coming here for years to train for both marathons and ultras. The working altitude, mild weather, food familiar to Europeans, and the stunning nature make training here not only effective but also inspiring.”

Organizers hope the event will help establish Kyrgyzstan as an emerging destination for sports tourism, drawing endurance athletes from around the world to the heart of Central Asia.

The assassination attempt on the deputy akim (head of the local government) in Shymkent, Kazakhstan’s third-largest city with a population exceeding one million, has drawn intense public attention. Shymkent, designated a city of republican significance, rarely sees violence of this nature targeting high-ranking officials.

Ruslan Berdenov, the official in question, was wounded by shotgun fire from a smoothbore weapon on the steps of the city administration building, which struck him in the thigh and the shoulder. The attack appears less like a calculated contract killing and more like an act of personal retribution.

Despite its entrenched presence in Russian criminal culture, the phenomenon of contract killings has not firmly taken root in Kazakhstan or the broader Central Asian region. Nonetheless, several contract-style assassinations have left a deep imprint on the public consciousness. The following cases are among the most significant.

Alexander Svichinsky

On December 28, 1992, Alexander Svichinsky, the general director of the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant, was gunned down in Temirtau. This was the first confirmed contract killing in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.

Svichinsky, who had risen through the ranks at Karmet Combine from mechanic to general director, had recently succeeded Oleg Soskovets, who later served in both the Kazakh and Russian governments. He was shot in the back of the head at the plant’s gatehouse.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev took personal control of the investigation. Gabdrakhim Mendeshev, a veteran criminal investigator, eventually uncovered the truth: the hit was arranged by a demoted former deputy of Svichinsky. The intermediary, a driver at the plant, enlisted three Lithuanian nationals staying at a local hotel to carry out the murder.

Following Svichinsky’s death, the plant’s fortunes declined. It was eventually sold to Indian industrialist Lakshmi Mittal’s Ispat Corporation.

Iosif Milgram

A year later, in December 1993, Almaty saw its first major contract killing. Iosif Milgram, the head of the Almatygorstroy construction firm, and his driver Dmitry Tarasov were murdered in the courtyard of Milgram’s home.

The case went unsolved until 1998 when a traffic stop led to the arrest of Zakir Salakhutdinov.

After killing a police officer during the stop, Salakhutdinov was detained and eventually confessed to the murder of Milgram. Investigators discovered that Milgram had accused his business partner, Valentin Li, of embezzlement. Li allegedly paid Salakhutdinov $20,000 to carry out the killing.

In 1999, Salakhutdinov was sentenced to death and Li received a 15-year sentence, although he was released early due to illness.

Nurlan Turysov

In 2002, businessman Nurlan Turysov and his wife Bayan Atabaeva were murdered in their Almaty apartment.

Turysov was the son of Karatay Turysov, a prominent political figure in Soviet Kazakhstan who had served as vice-premier of the republic’s Council of Ministers. Investigators believe Turysov was acquainted with the killers, as he let them in himself. He was shot twice in the temple and once in the back of the head. Hearing the shots, his wife attempted to flee and was attacked at the window, stabbed, and then shot in the head.

The apartment was ransacked, suggesting the killers were searching for something specific. According to their driver, the couple had planned to travel to Astana that evening; tickets were found in Turysov’s pocket. He had just returned from a conference in Bishkek on Central Asian cooperation in metrology, standardization, and certification.

Five years later, the murder weapon surfaced during a violent conflict in the village of Malovodnoye (now Kazatkom), where five people were killed. Ballistics linked the TT pistol used in that clash to the murders of Turysov and Atabaeva. The weapon was traced to Takhir Makhmakhanov, who remains on the interstate wanted list.

Yerzhan Tatishev

In 2004, the death of prominent banker Yerzhan Tatishev was initially ruled a hunting accident. According to that version, Tatishev was shot in the face by a shotgun handed to him while hunting wolves from an SUV.

Years later, however, Muratkhan Tokmadi, a businessman with a criminal background, admitted the killing was deliberate. Tokmadi claimed the murder had been ordered by Mukhtar Ablyazov, Tatishev’s former business partner and erstwhile head of BTA Bank.

Ablyazov had earlier lost his share in the bank amid political pressure and left the country, only to return following Tatishev’s death to head BTA. He later faced embezzlement charges and again fled Kazakhstan.

In 2018, a Kazakh court found Ablyazov guilty in absentia of orchestrating Tatishev’s murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

In total, Ablyazov stands accused of having embezzled up to $10 billion. Despite having judgments against him totaling $4.9 billion in Britain alone, over a decade since he fled the UK on a fake passport to avoid three concurrent 22-month sentences for contempt of court, the former Minister for Energy, Industry and Trade in Kazakhstan – who has done business with multiple individuals sanctioned in the West – remains a free man, bemoaning his plight to be a case of “political persecution”.

Altynbek Sarsenbayev

The most politically sensitive case came in 2006 with the murder of former Minister of Information Altynbek Sarsenbayev and his two aides. Initially, Senate Chief of Staff Yerzhan Utembayev was convicted as the mastermind, and former police officer Rustem Ibragimov received a life sentence as the triggerman. The case quickly became a lightning rod for political debate.

Later, developments shifted the blame to Rakhat Aliyev, the controversial former son-in-law of President Nazarbayev. Sarsenbayev’s colleagues in the opposition had long pointed to Aliyev as a more likely suspect.

In 2014, Utembayev’s role was reduced to that of an accomplice, and in 2015, Aliyev was found dead in an Austrian detention center under suspicious circumstances.

Reprimand and Dismissal Linked to Berdenov Attack

The attack on Ruslan Berdenov is believed to have stemmed from the reprimand and subsequent dismissal of Yernar Zhienbay, a former municipal construction company director. The suspect was detained after being stopped by Berdenov’s driver. Berdenov remains hospitalized in a serious condition, while investigations continue to uncover further details.

For the first time in Kyrgyzstan’s financial market, a state-owned bank has introduced a self-limitation service on loans, aiming to strengthen cybersecurity and protect citizens from financial fraud.

A New Step Toward Cybersecurity

According to the Union of Banks of Kyrgyzstan, Eldik Bank, a state-owned institution, has launched a digital self-limitation service for its clients. The bank believes the mechanism could significantly enhance cybersecurity across the entire banking sector, especially if commercial and other state banks adopt the initiative as well.

Earlier, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (NBKR) had started examining international experiences regarding self-prohibition of online loans and the feasibility of implementing such a practice domestically. The NBKR notes that a self-ban mechanism could not only shield customers from fraud but also encourage more informed decision-making when applying for loans.

The Union of Banks of Kyrgyzstan has called on the wider banking community to collaborate on this initiative, advocating for a shared database of clients who have opted to limit their access to new loans.

Learning from Regional Experiences

In an interview with The Times of Central Asia, Anvar Abdraev, President of the Union of Banks of Kyrgyzstan, explained that the move was motivated largely by a global rise in banking fraud.

“Russia and Kazakhstan have already introduced such a service in their banks. Statistics in these countries show that a large number of financially literate people use this service, probably because of the recent increase in bank fraud around the world,” Abdraev said.

He added that promoting financial literacy and offering additional protective mechanisms is becoming a crucial component of banking policy across the region.

Legislative Efforts Underway

The mechanism is currently being actively promoted within Kyrgyzstan’s parliament. A draft bill to formalize the introduction of self-limitation on loans has been submitted for public discussion.

“The Union of Banks is also participating in the discussions and is part of the working group drafting the legislation,” Abdraev said. “We aim to create a comprehensive digital platform where, alongside self-limitation, additional customer protection mechanisms would be operational.”

Kazakhstani geologists have begun prospecting potential mining sites in Afghanistan, starting with the resource-rich Nuristan Province. The initiative reflects Kazakhstan’s broader efforts to expand its mining interests and strengthen economic ties with Afghanistan.

In mid-April, a group of geologists and engineers from Kazakhstan traveled to Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of National Economy. During their visit, specialists collected 130 kilograms of ore samples from prospective deposits in Nuristan Province, targeting beryllium, lead, and zinc resources. The samples will now be sent to Kazakhstan for laboratory analysis. Depending on the results, Kazakhstan may move to a more in-depth phase of negotiations regarding the development of these deposits.

Nuristan Province is located along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, south of the Hindu Kush mountain range, with its administrative center in the city of Parun. Mining activity in the province has historically focused on artisanal extraction of precious and semi-precious stones, including varieties of beryl. At least 55 gemstone deposits are known to exist in the region, featuring lazurite, cordierite, ruby, kunzite, emerald, and danburite. However, industrial-scale mining of lead and zinc has not previously been developed in the area.

Kazakhstan’s geological exploration in Afghanistan will not be limited to Nuristan. During a meeting in Kabul between Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin and Afghanistan’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum Hedayatullah Badri, it was agreed that another team of Kazakhstani specialists would travel to Afghanistan at the end of May. The Afghan side also expressed readiness to share information about confirmed mineral reserves that could be of interest to Kazakh companies.

“Today Kazakhstan has formed a professional pool of extractive companies experienced in geological exploration, mining, and processing of solid minerals. These companies are keen to find and invest in promising deposits,” Zhumangarin noted. Representatives from major firms such as ERG Exploration, Kazakhmys Barlau, and Kazatomprom accompanied the Kazakh delegation. The meeting participants agreed to establish a joint technical commission to facilitate timely discussions on emerging issues.

Zhumangarin also attended the Kazakhstan-Afghanistan Business Forum, which saw participation from 50 Kazakhstani companies. During the forum, he highlighted the potential for Afghanistan to serve as a key logistics hub between Central and South Asia, while Kazakhstan could become a reliable supplier of food products, technologies, engineering services, chemicals, and IT solutions.

“An ambitious but achievable goal has been set, to increase the volume of trade to $3 billion in the short term. Achieving this requires building sustainable supply chains, expanding the range of traded goods, and creating favorable conditions for investment and entrepreneurship,” Zhumangarin stated.

He also proposed to Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar the opening of a Kazakh trade house in Kabul. Additionally, the Kazakh side suggested considering the export of buses manufactured by QazTehna LLP to Afghanistan.

As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Kazakhstan is also exploring the possibility of exporting cars produced in Kostanay and Almaty to Afghanistan, with first deliveries potentially taking place this year.