Kazakhstan’s ex-leader rejects reports that he fled abroad

By DASHA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan’s influential former leader has released a short video in which he talked about the violent unrest that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation earlier this month. In it he also rejected reports alleging that he fled the country amid tensions with the current president. The video published Tuesday was the first time Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ran Kazakhstan for 29 years after it gained independence and kept an influential post after stepping down as president, spoke publicly about the protests and the bloodshed they descended into. Nazarbayev, 81, rejected speculation that the unrest could have been exacerbated by tensions between him and his hand-picked successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.