Chechen Ruler Tries To Soften His Image

MOSCOW — Caucasian warlord, mixed martial arts enthusiast, scourge of any opposition — Ramzan A. Kadyrov, the autocratic leader of a turbulent mountain republic, wants to convince Russia that its image of him is all wrong.

Mr. Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, is starring this fall in a reality TV competition called “The Team.” In a format that echoes “The Apprentice,” the show that enhanced Donald J. Trump’s fame, Mr. Kadyrov is winnowing 16 young Russians down to one who will become his assistant.

The Chechen leader, perhaps the highest- profile Russian political figure besides President Vladimir V. Putin, starts one episode by explaining why his image needs a makeover.

“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,” Mr. Kadyrov says. “That was invented by enemies of the people, enemies of our state, who know that as long as I am in the Caucasus, the Western, European special services will not manage to change the situation here,” he says, referring to the official conviction that the West seeks to engineer a regime change in Russia.

Mr. Kadyrov, 40, is clearly getting support from the Kremlin via state-run television.

One possible reason is economic. Chechnya, with a population of 1.4 million, costs the Kremlin about $1 billion in annual subsidies. Moscow recently announced the republic would face federal budget cuts.

The show appears aimed at persuading investors and Russian tourists to open their wallets in Chechnya so Moscow will not have to. It may also be an attempt to groom Mr. Kadyrov for a national role.

“They are aware of the experience of Trump; they are aware of the experience of other people who have used media stereotypes for their political careers,” said Grigo- ry S. Shvedov, the editor of the webbased Caucasian Knot news service. “This is clearly political P.R.”

“The Team” depicts Mr. Kadyrov, often dressed in camouflage, as a kind of cuddly teddy bear. Persistent Islamic militancy is glossed over.

Here he is releasing a herd of deer into the wild; there, collecting a wildflower bouquet. Mr. Kadyrov also uses television to stamp out dissent by publicly humiliating anyone who dares utter even vague criticism of his rule. Abuse is rife, as a recent Human Rights Watch report detailed.

Off camera, critics disappear, and some turn up dead. Chechen security forces have been linked to assassinations in Russia and abroad. The most recent was the killing of Boris Y. Nemtsov, a leading Putin critic gunned down near the Kremlin in 2015.

A makeover glosses over dead critics and assassinations.

Whatever the purpose of “The Team,” analysts say the barriers to Mr. Kadyrov’s becoming the president of Russia are just too high for a Muslim and non- ethnic Russian.

But Mr. Putin has no anointed heir, and some imagine that if a succession proves chaotic, Mr. Kadyrov could swoop in with his 20,000- strong Praetorian Guard and claim to impose order for the good of all Russia.

Repeated wars in the North Caucasus have led generations of Russian artists to typecast the region as violent. The more lasting impression might be summarized by a Mikhail Lermontov poem, “To the Caucasus,” which begins: “Caucasus! A land far away! Home to a simple freedom! And you are full of sorrows and stained with the blood of war …”