Nursultan Nazarbayev served as President of Kazakhstan from 1991 until 2019. He remained a backseat driver until last year, when Kazakhstan’s biggest protests in decades finally put an end to Nazarbayev’s 35-year rule.

Nazarbayev oversaw his country’s transition to independence and capitalism, and established strong relations with the United States and China. Temporarily at least, he established some semblance of order over a country many denied was coherent enough to survive, given that ethnic Russians actually outnumbered Kazakhs at the country’s founding.

On the other hand, Nazarbayev had a record in elections most dictators can only dream of, winning his last election with 98% of the vote, and jailing and murdering opposition figures with increasing passion as his rule progressed. He also maintained close relations with Russia, a friendship that has now come under unprecedented strain following Russia’s invasion of another one of its neighbours.

My guest for this episode is Joanna Lillis. Joanna is a British journalist who has lived in Kazakhstan since 2005, and writes principally for The Economist and Eurasianet. Joanna is also the author of recently published Dark Shadows, which examines Kazakhstan’s independent history.