From October 29 to December 26, 1991 he headed the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which adopted “Declaration No. 142-N”, officially ceasing the existence of the USSR.

From 1949 to 1954, he studied at the Kazakh State University in Almaty.

In 1953 he joined the Communist Party. Since 1991 he is a  chairman of the “Socialist Party of Kazakhstan.”

After graduating from the Faculty of Journalism, he worked as his own correspondent for Literary Newspaper (Moscow) in Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

From 1963 to 1967 he worked as the chief editor of the Kazakhfilm film studio. In 1968 he was invited as his own correspondent for the newspaper Pravda (Moscow) in Kazakhstan. Since 1969 he was the editor-in-chief of the literary weekly “Kazakh adebieti”.

From 1970 to 1979 he was elected as the first secretary of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan. At the same time, but until 1986, he was secretary of the board of the Union of Writers of the USSR.

From October 29  to December 26, 1991 he headed the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (formed by the Law of the USSR of September 5, 1991 No. 2392-I, but not provided for by the Constitution of the USSR). Under his chairmanship, on December 26, 1991, the Council of the Republics in violation of the Law of the USSR of 04.04.1990 No. 1409-I “On the Procedure for Solving Issues Related to the Exit of the Union Republic from the USSR” and the results of the All-Union Referendum on the Preservation of the USSR adopted “Declaration No. 142-N” on the termination of the existence of the USSR, thereby recognizing the Bialowieza Agreement on the termination of the USSR and on the formation of the CIS. It is worth noting that in this declaration there were a number of inaccuracies. For example, it was alleged that the supreme state body of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) – the Congress of People’s Deputies – ratified the agreement on the creation of the CIS.