Photo: Radio Ozodlik

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev dismissed Rustam Inoyatov from the head of the National Security Service and made him as his adviser. Is this a sign of the end of epoch of Inoyatov in Uzbekistan, or is it the compromise between the two giants of Uzbek politics?

On January 31, the head of the National Security Committee of Uzbekistan, Rustam Inoyatov was dismissed and became an adviser to the president of country Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Many foreign experts assumed this as the victory of Mirziyoyev's rule. They have reason to think so. Rustam Inoyatov is the only person in Uzbekistan who was working for many years after Islam Karimov. He worked for the National Security Committee since 1995. After death of Islam Karimov, Uzbek politicians and journalists supposed that Rustam Inoyatov will be the president. However, it really did not work. Instead, Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyev was elected as a president.

During the time of Islam Karimov, the head of the National Security Committee of Uzbekistan, Rustam Inoyatov coped very well with his work. Without any involvement of the National Security Committee,even the investment project was not implemented. He managed the black market from currency exchange points to large and small enterprises. In other words, under the rule of Islam Karimov even foreign companies was not accepted in the territory of Uzbekistan without permission Inoyatov. However, Inoyatov's 21-year-old work term expired in 2016 with the arrival of Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Initially, Uzbekistan's authorities seemed to be peaceful, but it was not really like that. Rustam Inoyatov discouraged Shavkat Mirziyev's reforms. He opposed the Mirziyoyev's announcements of the regime of the visa-free regime for some countries and currency reform. After such incidents, authority of Mirziyoyev started to criticize openly the National Security Committee. In December 2017, Shavkat Mirziyoyev told that the the National Security Committee should be reformed. As stated by the foreign experts, these bold moves of Mirziyoyev is connected with Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Iskander Makhmudov. With the help of these two people Shavkat Mirziyoyev will free Uzbekistan's business world from the influence of Inoyatov. Because during under the rule of Islam Karimov, Alisher Usmanov and Iskander Makhmudov could not invest in Uzbekistan. Even the National Security Committee under the administration of Rustam Inoyatov did not allow them to be on the territory of Uzbekistan. In addition, Usmanov and Makhmudov did not want to give money to the NSC in order to enter to the business world of Uzbekistan. And with this attitude Inoyatov disagreed for a long time. After this situation, the conflict began between them. After the death of Islam Karimov, the struggle between the giants, which lasted one year, was resolved in January 31 after the dissemination of information. However, this does not mean that the era of Inoyatov is over in Uzbekistan. Because a new group of oligarchs is gathering around the authorities. So this is the beginning of new and long-term political games.

                     “The Qazaq Times”