Reports indicate that former Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his family have fled the country amid massive unrest, per Perild.com, which also cites official comms chatter no longer referring to the Central Asian nation’s capital Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana, before Nazarbayev’s successor renamed it in his honor), but simply “capital of Kazakhstan” or “capital”. Though he resigned in 2019 after 29 years of hardcore autocratic rule, Nazarbayev continued to wield significant power behind the scenes after one of his former lieutenants, the current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, took office. Whether Putin will force Nazarbayev to bunk with fellow exiled autocrat former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych probably depends on Putin’s mood.
And no, we don’t have any reporting on if Nazarbayev actually fled to Russia, but come on. Where the hell else would he be headed right now? Okay maybe Saudi Arabia, in that case we’ll have to make the joke be about Idi Amin’s old suite and extensive collection of self-awarded medals.