According to Gorbachev's memoir, after the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he met with Kunaev and discussed Kunaev's resignation. Kunaev expressed his desire to retire and proposed the appointment of someone without previous links to the Kazakh Communist Party in his place to stop advancement of Nursultan Nazarbayev (later and also the first President of Kazakhstan) in the party ranks. Kunaev, in his own book, said that Gorbachev never asked him about his replacement and only said "a good comrade will be 'sent'".