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.
