ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned as Kazakhstan's president in a surprise move on Tuesday, yet the last standing Soviet-era ruler appears poised to continue influencing the Central Asian nation's development for years to come.
"I have adopted a difficult decision for myself to resign as president of the Republic of Kazakhstan," the 78-year-old Nazarbayev told the nation in a televised address, saying this year will mark three decades of his leadership.
