Mukhtar Altynbayev

(1945-)

Kazakhstani military officer; former Minister of Defense and General of the Army of Kazakhstan

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Mukhtar Qapashuly Altynbayev (Kazakh: Мұхтар Қапашұлы Алтынбаев) (born December 10, 1945 in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) served as the Minister of Defense and General of the Army of Kazakhstan twice, most recently from December 2001 to 10 January 2007. Prime Minister Karim Massimov replaced him with former Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov in a political shakeup. Previously, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev dismissed Altynbayev from his post as Defense Minister in August 1999 along with Nurtay Abikayev, the head of the National Security Committee. According to Radio Free Europe, they were dismissed for "failing to properly investigate" the illegal sale of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighter aircraft to North Korea. In March 2000 he became commander of Kazakhstan's Air Defense Force.