Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov launched his own version of “The Apprentice” in October to rehabilitate his image as a brutal dictator.
Kadyrov’s show is called the “The Team” where 16 young Russians will compete to become his personal assistant. The Team’s first task involved contestants dividing themselves up into teams, and trying to organize 3000 women to form the name of a soccer team in an arena. “There used to be a machine gun, an automatic rifle or a grenade launcher; now I have this cane,” Kadyrov told the audience jovially in the first episode.
“People believe my image that was created by the liberals, that I am frightening, that I will kill whoever says anything about me, that I will put them in a dungeon and stab them,” Kadyrov declared in the show. He blamed his bad reputation and instability in Chechnya on U.S. and European interference saying “They want to make an enemy of the people out of me. On the contrary, people run to me. They hug me.”
The Kremlin is “aware of the experience of Trump; they are aware of the experience of other people who have used media stereotypes for their political careers,” a Chechen journalist told The New York Times. He elaborated, “This is clearly political P.R.”
Kadyrov told reporters in June some other contestant tasks will include planning the “strategic development” of Chechnya, organizing big budget weddings, and generally showing “soldierly ability.”
When a female supporter on the show asked Kadyrov if he thought a woman could hold a high position in Chechnya he responded “The woman is a housewife.” She later expressed bewilderment to the camera saying she wanted to ask him “So why did you invite women to participate?”
Kadyrov’s reputation is well deserved. Human Rights Watch notes that he systematically targets journalists critical of his regime, and is tied to multiple political assassinations, destroys the homes of his critics. He also has spearheaded an Islamization campaign throughout the Chechen state.
Unveiled women are banned from government offices and the deputy Islamic scholar of Chechnya told The Wall Street Journal that levels of Islamic observance are much higher than the 1990’s. ISIS propaganda increasingly enthralls Chechnya’s youth. Chechnya’s own law enforcement agencies estimate there are between 3-4000 Chechens fighting for ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
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