The return of Marat Tazhin (b.1960) to high politics in Kazakhstan is one indisputable consequence of the downfall of the deputy head of the presidential administration, Balgan Maylybaev (see Caspian Focus – January 2017). With a doctorate in sociology, Tazhin is known as President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s ideologue-in-chief and is the architect of his long-standing rule. Since February 2014, he has been Kazakhstan’s ambassador in Moscow.

Tazhin began his political career in 1995 when he became the deputy head of the presidential administration and quickly took over all policy planning. Two years earlier he had created the Centre for Analysis and Strategic Research under the presidency. This subsequently came up with a rehashed notion of Eurasianism and proclaimed President Nazarbaev to be the ‘founding father’ of Eurasian integration. The president first publicly tested the idea in a speech to Moscow State University students and faculty in 1994.

Tazhin’s government career evolved in a linear way, taking him to the State Anti-Corruption Commission in 2000, to the KNB intelligence service in 2001 and to the State Security Council in 2002. Known for his aversion to the media spotlight, he returned to the presidential administration in August 2002 as a deputy head. In 2006 he was once again appointed as the secretary of the Security Council, a non-public body whose remit purportedly stretches as far as information and migration policies, foreign policymaking, and strategic security orientations. He served as foreign affairs minister between 2007 and 2009, preparing Kazakhstan for the 2010 chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Back at the helm of the Security Council from 2009–2013, he was then state secretary until January 2014, before being appointed as ambassador in Moscow.

To the majority of local analysts, Tazhin is President Nazarbaev’s ‘grey cardinal’. He has the reputation of a skilful planner, a whisperer and an artful tactician. The term grey cardinal refers to Père Joseph (1577–1638), who wore monastic grey and was the original éminence grise to France’s Cardinal de Richelieu in the 17th century.

The media remember Tazhin’s rare public appearances, during which he quoted ancient philosophers and stressed the importance of explaining the greatness of Kazakh history — real or imagined — to young citizens. Tazhin’s role in the ongoing constitutional reform, albeit never mentioned as such, cannot help being primordial. There is little doubt that it is he — rather than the head of the presidential administration, Adilbek Dzhaksybekov, who is officially his boss — who will personally coordinate the work of the new state commission which is working on the power-sharing proposal. Tazhin will work closely with pro-regime experts to devise the form of government that will best preserve President Nazarbaev’s legacy.