Gennady Kolbin

Who was Gennady Kolbin?

Gennady Kolbin was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakh SSR from December 16, 1986 to June 22, 1989.

Kolbin had not worked in the Kazakh SSR prior to his appointment. He was appointed by Mikhail Gorbachev in an attempt to root out corruption in the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR.

As an outsider to Kazakhstan, he was not well received there. His appointment resulted in violent protests in the Kazakh capital Almaty and other cities, with several protesters killed and hundreds injured. This revolt is now known as "Jeltoqsan", the Kazakh for "December". It is reported that the outgoing first secretary, Dinmukhamed Kunayev, participated in organizing the protests, which involved 60,000 protesters.

In June 1989, Kolbin was replaced by Kazakh Nursultan Nazarbayev. Kolbin was then transferred to a position in Moscow.