KAZAKHSTAN: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH NEW DEPUTY PA

UNCLAS ALMATY 001418

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN (J. MUDGE)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH NEW DEPUTY PA
HEAD ASHIMBAYEV



1. (SBU) Summary: New deputy head of the Presidential
Administration Ashimbayev will take over Marat Tazhin's
duties in coordinating policy on political issues, including
democratization. Ashimbayev reacted positively to the list
of suggested ideas related to the upcoming VIP visit, and
promised to pursue them. The Ambassador called Ashimbayev's
attention to recent legal actions against independent media
outlets. End summary.


2. (U) The Ambassador met with Maulen Ashimbayev, newly
appointed deputy head of the Presidential Administration, on
April 18 in Astana. Ashimbayev replaced Marat Tazhin in the
position on April 15, when Tazhin became Secretary of the
Security Council. Ashimbayev was previously Deputy
Secretary of the Security Council, and served briefly as

SIPDIS
Acting Secretary after Bulat Utemuratov was transferred to
the Presidential Administration in late March.


3. (SBU) Ashimbayev confirmed that he will handle the same
issues as Tazhin did, focusing in particular on political
and democratization issues. The Ambassador said that we
were glad to have a familiar contact on these issues, which
were not only sensitive but very important for the bilateral
relationship. One of the lessons the U.S. took from recent
events in Uzbekistan, he added, was the importance of not
separating democracy issues from other elements of the
relationship. Although the situation in Kazakhstan is very
different from Uzbekistan, progress on democratization will
still take a great deal of work.


4. (SBU) The Ambassador informed Ashimbayev that during his
recent visit to Astana, A/S Boucher had shared a list of
possible steps that could be taken in connection with
upcoming high-level visits (septel). Ashimbayev, who had
not previously seen the list, reviewed it briefly and
reacted favorably to the democracy-related items. He said
he would discuss the idea of OSCE support for the
Democratization Commission with the OSCE ambassador, and
would look for ways to pursue the other ideas as well.


5. (SBU) The Ambassador also called Ashimbayev's attention
to two recent cases in which the Almaty akimat, acting on
the recommendation of the Almaty procuracy, had taken legal
action against newspapers on the grounds that the papers'
subject matter did not coincide with their registration
status. (Note: The papers are Aina Plus, formerly Zhuma
Times, and Alma Ata Info, formerly Nachnem c Ponedelnika.)
The U.S. saw this as an alarming precedent, as almost any
paper could be found to differ at times with its specific
registration category. It gave the impression that
Kazakhstani authorities were waging a campaign to close
independent media outlets.

ORDWAY