outstanding figures of kazakhstan
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Politician
Nursultan Äbishuly Nazarbayev is the President of Kazakhstan. He has been the country's leader since 1989, before the nation's independence from the Soviet Union in December 1991. In April 2011, Nazarbayev was re-elected to another five-year term.
Al-Farabi
Philosopher
Al-Farabi known in the West as Alpharabius, was a renowned scientist and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. He was also a cosmologist, logician, and musician. Through his commentaries and treatises, Al-Farabi became well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals as "The Second Teacher", that is, the successor to Aristotle, "The First Teacher".
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Politician
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, born Vladimir Volfovich Eidelstein on 25 April 1946, is a Russian politician and political activist. He is a colonel in the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Zhirinovsky is often viewed as "a showman of Russian politics, blending populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a brash, confrontational style".
Gennady Golovkin
Professional Boxer
Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin is a Undefeated Kazakh boxer who competed in the Middleweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal. He is the current WBA and IBO Middleweight Champion. With an 89% knockout percentage rate, Golovkin holds the greatest KO ratio in middleweight championship history and is 1st amongst all active current and former champions, and 3rd in overall championship history. He has never been knocked down or knocked out in over 375 fights, both as a professional and amateur.
Sergey Lukyanenko
Author
Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is one of the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writers. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, interwoven with the moral dilemma of keeping one's humanity while being strong. Recently his works have been adapted into film productions, for which he wrote the screenplays. He was also a blogger, keeping a blog at LiveJournal, and posting both personal and public information or snippets of a book in progress. His first blog was discontinued on 11 July 2008 after a conflict with readers over the issue of foreign adoptions of Russian children. He started another blog a few days later, promising firmer moderation policies.
Timur Bekmambetov
Film Director
Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov is a Kazakh director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films and commercials. He is best known for the film Night Watch and its sequel Day Watch, and the American films Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Aslan Maskhadov
Warlord
Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen independence movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the establishment of the de facto independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Maskhadov was elected President of Chechnya in January 1997. Following the start of the Second Chechen War in August 1999, he returned to leading the guerrilla resistance against the Russian army. He was killed in Tolstoy-Yurt, a village in northern Chechnya, in March 2005.
Oleg Yankovsky
Actor
Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky was a Soviet/Russian actor who has excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he became, together with Alla Pugacheva, the last person to be named a People's Artist of the USSR.
Evgeni Nabokov
Professional Ice hockey Player
Evgeni Viktorovich "Nabby" Nabokov is a Kazakhstani-Russian professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. Nabokov was selected by San Jose in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. When he started playing in North America, he went by John, rather than Evgeni, fearing that English speakers would have a hard time pronouncing his name. However, this change did not last. In his first nine seasons in the NHL, all with San Jose, Nabokov became the Sharks leader in nearly every goaltending category, including games played, wins, and shutouts.
Elena Likhovtseva
Tennis Player
Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva is a Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16. Likhovtseva's career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1. Elena is also one of the few people in either the men's or women's game to have lost a tiebreaker from 6–0 up. Together with Mahesh Bhupathi, she won the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles championship in 2002. She has also been a runner-up in a number of other contests, including the Australian Open women's doubles event in 2004, French Open Women's Doubles in 2004 and Mixed Doubles in 2003, and the 2000 and 2004 US Open Women's Doubles. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won the first round of the Women's Doubles with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, but was defeated in the second. She won the 2007 Australian Open Mixed Doubles championship with Daniel Nestor. After losing all four singles of the year, Likhovtseva's best performance in 2008 was the quarter-finals at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with Lisa Raymond.
Akhmad Kadyrov
Warlord
Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov, also spelled Akhmat, was the Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War. At the outbreak of the Second Chechen War he switched sides, offering his service to the Russian government, and later became the President of the Chechen Republic from 5 October 2003, acting as head of administration since July 2000. On 9 May 2004, he was assassinated by Chechen Islamists in Grozny, using a bomb blast during a World War II memorial victory parade. His son, Ramzan Kadyrov, who led his father's militia, became one of his successors in March 2007 as the President of the Chechen Republic.
The French Angel
Wrestler
Maurice Tillet was a Russian-born French professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The French Angel. Tillet was a leading box office draw in the early 1940s and was twice recognized world heavyweight champion by the American Wrestling Association run by Paul Bowser in Boston.
Oleg Maskaev
Professional Boxer
Oleg Alexandrovich Maskaev is a Russian professional boxer and a former WBC heavyweight champion. He made only one successful defence of the WBC title before losing it to Samuel Peter. He is an ethnic Mordvin.
Ruslana Korshunova
Fashion Model
Ruslana Sergeyevna Korshunova was a Kazakhstani model of Russian descent. She established herself as a rising figure in the fashion industry by posing for magazines including Vogue and designers such as Vera Wang and Nina Ricci. Korshunova's death, which was ruled a suicide, became a longtime controversial subject of international attention.
Khoja Akhmet Yassawi
Poet
Khoja Ahmat Ysawi, was a Turkic poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of mystical orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. Yasavi is currently the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in a Turkic dialect. Ahmed Yesevi was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkic tariqah, the Yasaviyya, which very quickly spread over the Turkic-speaking areas.
Abai Qunanbaiuli
Philosopher
Abay Qunanbayuli was a great Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher. He was also a cultural reformer toward European and Russian cultures on the basis of enlightened Islam.
Akhmed Zakayev
Warlord
Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev is the former Deputy Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which is unrecognised by other countries. He was also the Foreign Minister of the Ichkerian government, appointed by Aslan Maskhadov shortly after his 1997 election, and again in 2006 by Abdul Halim Sadulayev. During the First Chechen war Zakayev took part in the battles for Grozny and other military operations, as well as in high-level negotiations with the Russian side. In 2002, Russia accused him, by then in exile, of having been involved in a series of crimes including involvement in acts of terrorism. In 2003, the British court rejected the extradition request due to lack of evidence and declared the accusations to be politically motivated, also saying that there was substantial risk of Zakayev being tortured if he was returned to Moscow.
Denis Ten
Figure Skater
Denis Yuryevich Ten is a Kazakhstani figure skater. He is the 2013 World silver medalist, the 2011 Asian Winter Games champion, and three-time national champion of Kazakhstan. At the 2008–2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Belarus, Ten became the first skater from Kazakhstan to win an International Skating Union competition. He competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics after earning two spots for Kazakhstan at the 2009 World Championships, the first time Kazakhstan had ever qualified more than one Olympic men's entry. He is the member of Astana Presidential Sports Club.
German Gref
Organization leader
German Oskarovich Gref is a Russian economist of German ethnicity, the founder of Center of the Strategic Development. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He currently is the president of Sberbank.
Nik Antropov
Professional Ice hockey Player
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Antropov is a Kazakhstani-Canadian professional ice hockey centre who currently plays for the Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League. He received Canadian citizenship in May 2007.
Ilya Ilyin
Weightlifter
Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin is a Kazakhstani weightlifter. Ilyin has won two Olympic championships and three world championships. He is currently the world and Olympic record holder in both the clean and jerk and the overall total in the 94 kg class. He is Kazakhstan's first two-time Olympic champion. He is the member of Astana Presidential Sports Club.
Vassiliy Jirov
Professional Boxer
Vassiliy "The Tiger" Jirov is a professional Kazakhstani boxer and former IBF cruiserweight champion, currently fighting out of Las Vegas under Thell Torrence. Jirov won the Olympic gold medal at Atlanta in 1996. Soon after, he moved to the United States, settling in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he married and began to train at the SAR Club's boxing gym.
Bar Paly
Actor
Bar Paly is an Israeli model and actress.
Anton Khudobin
Professional Ice hockey Player
Anton Valerievich Khudobin is a Russian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild 206th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
Karim Masimov
Politician
Karim Qajymqanuly Massimov served as Prime Minister in the Government of Kazakhstan from 10 January 2007 to 24 September 2012. He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister from 19 January 2006 to 9 January 2007 and as Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, Minister of Transport and Communications in 2001. President Nazarbayev nominated Massimov to succeed Daniyal Akhmetov as Prime Minister on 9 January 2007. The Nur Otan party endorsed Massimov's candidacy and Parliament confirmed the nomination on 10 January. On 24 September 2012, Massimov's premiership ended when President Nazarbayev moved him to the position of chief of staff of the presidential office; according to Reuters, the move was designed to readjust the power balance between various factions within the government.
