Freedom of speech in Kazakhstan is defined as the right guaranteed by the constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan to freely search, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information in any legal way. The non-governmental, non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders positioned Kazakhstan 160th out of 180 in the World Freedom Index in 2016. The only countries with lower positions in Central Asia are Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, 178th and 166th, respectively. Since the independence of the country from the USSR in 1991, the restriction of freedom of speech has gotten worse and many opposition media have shut down. Restriction of freedom in Kazakhstan Cult of personality of Nursultan Nazarbayev In the summer of 2010, the first and current president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, of the Republic of Kazakhstan was given the status of "Leader of the Nation". Thus, the status gives the president and members of his family the following powers: The leader of the nation can not be detained, arrested, brought to criminal or administrative responsibility for the acts committed by him during the period of exercise of the president's powers, but after their termination - related to the exercise of his status of the first president of Kazakhstan, the leader of the nation. The encroachment on the life of the leader of a nation by law is classified as a terrorist offense. For corruption of images of the first president - the leader of the nation, public insults and distortions of the facts of his biography - leads to criminal responsibility. For the assassination attempt on the president, which did not even harm his health is the death penalty. Inviolability extends to all property belonging to the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - the Leader of the Nation and his family members living together with him, as well as to the residential and office premises used by them, official transport, communications, correspondence, documents belonging to them Joseph Stalin had similar powers. During the Stalinist period, Soviet propaganda created the image an infallible leader around Stalin. After Stalin's acquisition of the fullness of power with respect to him, the titles "great leader", "great leader and teacher", "father of nations", "great commander", "brilliant scientist", and "best friend of the(scientists, writers, athletes, etc.), " were often used and were almost obligatory in official journalism. Nazarbayev's personal attitude to freedom of speech on the Internet In 2016, in an interview with the TV channel