Alnur Mussayev

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Alnur Mussayev (born January 4, 1954) is a Kazakh politician and former head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He began his career in Soviet security services, joining the KGB in 1979 and working in counterintelligence in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, with later stints in the USSR’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. From 1992 he held senior roles in the KNB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Presidential Security Service. In 1994 he led the KNB’s anti-corruption group, and in 1995 he became an adviser to the president, first deputy commander of the Republican Guard, and head of the Presidential Security Service. He has said that, acting on Nazarbayev’s orders, he oversaw the sale of 578 kg of weapons-grade uranium abroad.

Mussayev served as chairman of the National Security Committee twice: May 1997 to September 1998, and August 1999 to May 2001. He carried out leadership reforms in the KNB and pursued anti-corruption efforts, including actions against corruption among regional heads (akims). Some sources say he also pressured the opposition and targeted journalists. In 1998–1999 he was replaced by Nurtai Abykayev, but he returned as chairman in 1999 and later led the Presidential Security Service again before leaving in 2002.

In 2007 Mussayev fled Kazakhstan for Vienna with Rakhat Aliyev, accusing the government of widespread corruption and of accepting bribes from Western oil companies tied to Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan convicted him in absentia. A kidnapping attempt against Mussayev occurred in Vienna in 2008. In a 2010 Austrian trial, one suspect was found not guilty; Mussayev called the verdict politically motivated. In 2015 he faced Austrian charges in the Nurbank bankers’ murder case but was cleared.

In 2025 Mussayev claimed that Donald Trump had been recruited by the KGB in 1987, but offered no solid evidence. He also asserted that Trump is compromised, though without verifiable proof.