This statement [on being a successor to President Nazarbayev] caught me by surprise: Timur Kulibayev

Timur Kulibayev, Chairman of the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund Board of Directors, considers the statement on his being a potential successor to the President, voiced by President Nazarbayev’s Advisor Ermukhamer Yertysbayev, as “somewhat incorrect”, KazTag agency reports. “To be honest, this statement [on being a successor] caught me by surprise. I have never positioned myself as a politician. I’ve been dealing with economy issues for quite a while. This is something I really enjoy. In the nearest time I want to meet Mr. Yertysbayev to discuss the statement made by him”, Kulibayev said. He emphasized that “talking [of successors] with the incumbent president in place, especially given the recent speculations on the President’s health in the media, is not quite correct. Things that Mr. Ertysbayev voiced in his interview for Russia’s Kommersant newspaper is absolute baloney. I haven’t seen him lately, and I want to emphasize that his statement was fully unexpected to me”, Kulibayev said. On Monday Russia’s Kommersant newspaper ran an interview with President Nazarbayev’s Advisor Ermukhamer Ertysbayev. In this interview Kulibayev was named as the most likely successor to the President.