President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a former Soviet official, has ruled with a tempered-steel grip since independence in 1991 by focusing on the economy--Kazakhstan's GDP last year jumped 8.7%--and opening doors to outside investors.

FORBES: Power Putsch

Kazakhstan held parliamentary elections in January 2012, in which the party loyal to the country's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, won a landslide victory.

BBC: Germany criticised over Kazakh trade deal

In 2009 President Nursultan Nazarbayev offered to host a nuclear fuel bank under the International Atomic Energy Agency's jurisdiction.

BBC: Banking on nuclear peace in Kazakhstan