Kolbin was an ethnic Chuvash from Russia and had not worked in Kazakh SSR prior to his appointment as the first secretary. He was appointed by Mikhail Gorbachev in an attempt to rout out corruption in the Communist Party of Kazakh SSR.
As an outsider to Kazakhstan, he was not well received there. His appointment resulted in violent protests in the Kazakh capital Almaty and other cities, with several protesters killed and hundreds injured. It is reported that the outgoing first secretary, Dinmukhamed Kunayev, participiated in organizing the protests which involved 60,000 protesters [1] (http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/kazakhstan/hypermail/200204/0053.shtml).
In June 1989, Kolbin was replaced by Kazakh Nursultan Nazarbayev. Kolbin was then transferred to a position in Moscow.