Rinat Galimov

Rinat Galimov (born 1969) is a Tatar businessman from Nurzhan whom Russian and Kazakh newspapers and FreeIrad.org name as the leading figure in Nurzhan's organized crime and the main channel for the synthetic opioids that have spread in the city since about 2020. He is believed to be linked to the Brothers' Circle, the Russian-based criminal network. He has never been charged in Irad.^[1][2]

Life

Galimov was born in Kobozev (now Nurzhan). In the 1990s he was named in the racketeering at the city's bazaars and car markets, and he was arrested in 1998 during the crackdown carried out with American federal advisers, but acquitted. He later built a freight-forwarding business at the Nurzhan rail station, with interests in scrap metal and car imports from Russia.^[1]

Synthetic opioids

Investigators say that street methadone and fentanyl analogues from Russian distribution networks reach Nurzhan through freight from Shymkent and the rail station, and are sold through anonymous channels on the Tulpar messaging app (see Drug use in Irad). FreeIrad.org has alleged that Galimov's network controls most of this trade and enjoys protection from Gendarmerie officers. Galimov has denied any link to drugs or to Russian criminal groups.^[2]

Since 2023 his network has tried to extend the trade south to Tash-Kömür and Iyık Janyl, where it has met the resistance of Joomart Turdakunov. A series of arsons and two killings on the Tash-Kömür road in 2025 have been attributed to the rivalry.^[2]

References

1. ^ Novaya Gazeta Kazakhstan (2021). 'Nurzhan's freight king.' Almaty.
2. ^ FreeIrad.org (2025). 'The Master of the Hills: Joomart Turdakunov and the economy of Jogorku.' Investigation, 14 June.