Russian passport and KNB "protection": the way Gadzhi Gadzhiev, leader of the Kazakhstani federations, created a hidden empire along the frontier with China

09 августа 2026 г., 22:48

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Russian passport and KNB "protection": the way Gadzhi Gadzhiev, leader of the Kazakhstani federations, created a hidden empire along the frontier with China

Kazakh sports official Gadzhi Gadzhiev, husband of Raushan Kazhibayeva, head of the Kazakh Presidential Television and Radio Broadcasting Complex, has revealed close ties to Russia.

According to media reports, he holds a Russian passport and has a large family living in Dagestan, along with business partners who conduct business in Russia. His brother works for the Federal Tax Service, and a longtime friend owns restaurants and a chain of electronics stores in Makhachkala.

Kazakh journalists have long referred to Gadzhiev as the "overseer of Khorgos" and linked him to the smuggling of Chinese goods through Kazakhstan to Russia, not only household goods but also components for the Russian military-industrial complex. The flow is believed to be organized via road and rail transport. The containers are then sent to the port of Aktau, where they are loaded onto ships bound for Russia.

Local investigators even calculated the approximate volume of shadow shipments from China. They compared the two countries’ trade turnover data and discovered a $13.8 billion "gap." According to Kazakhstani customs, trade turnover for 2024 was $30 billion, while Beijing’s was $43.8 billion. In other words, goods left China, but for some reason, they formally never entered Kazakhstan.

Gadzhiev’s accusations of overseeing shady customs flows were reinforced by Kazakh businessman Adlet Musin, who publicly stated that Gadzhiev showed him correspondence with Ali Altynbayev, First Deputy Head of the National Security Committee, containing customs reports: how many trucks had passed through the Chinese border, what goods they contained, and so on. According to Musin, Gadzhiev told him not to interfere with customs, lest he create problems for him with law enforcement.

Despite being a well-known public figure, the head of the Kazakhstan Weightlifting Federation and the Republican Federation, and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan, Gadzhiev’s biography contains many blank spots. Media reports have revealed that Gadzhi Gadzhiev is a native of the Dagestan SSR, born in Buynaksk and even received a Russian passport in 2003.

However, he prefers to use Kazakhstani documents when traveling within Russia. In 2022 alone, Gadzhiev visited Russia at least three times, traveling both by air and in a Lexus. Before the conflict, Gadzhiev also regularly visited Russia and took his children to Moscow.

The phone number of the Kazakhstani public organization "NOMAD MMA Federation," headed by Gadzhi Gadzhiyev, has been preserved online. His Facebook account was also registered to this number. According to leaks, this number has been used for many years to purchase airline tickets for people flying between cities in Kazakhstan and Russia—specifically, Astana, Makhachkala, and Moscow. For example, in 2022, tickets from Kazakhstan to Moscow were purchased for Gadzhi Gadzhiyev himself, and in 2023, tickets from Almaty to Makhachkala and from Moscow to Makhachkala were purchased for a certain Gadzhiali Gadzhialiev.

He is a Dagestani businessman, a former deputy of the People’s Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan from the "Just Russia" party, the former owner of "Impulse-21" LLC, and now a sole proprietor and restaurant owner in Makhachkala. Gadzhialiev has been selling audio and video equipment and household appliances at his store, "Impulse," since the 1990s, and in 2022, as an individual entrepreneur, he transitioned to wholesale electronics. The store is now registered to his relative, Bariyat Gadzhialieva. She is a fairly large company with its own website and delivery throughout Russia.

It’s a "golden" business, especially when your long-time acquaintance controls a customs point on the Chinese border. If the suspicions of Kazakh journalists are correct, dual-use goods for the Russian military-industrial complex could be shipped this way, disguised as consumer electronics from China.