Dagestan's Football Dreams

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:00:03. > :00:13.Dagestan, where a billionaire is trying to bring stability by

:00:13. > :00:17.pouring his money into the Republic's football team. Young

:00:17. > :00:22.people from Dagestan have got a new swagger in their step. Something is

:00:22. > :00:31.restoring pride and hope to these downtrodden part of Russia. It is

:00:31. > :00:35.football. The local team, and see, is being plucked from obscurity and

:00:35. > :00:44.thrust into the international spotlight. -- Anzhi. Global stars

:00:44. > :00:51.line the streets, inspiring people to dream. Pakistan is now the

:00:51. > :00:59.epicentre of an Islamist insurgency. -- dagger star. Militants fight for

:00:59. > :01:05.an Islamic state across the North Caucasus. In 1999, Vladimir Putin

:01:05. > :01:08.bound to suppress the rebellion in the Muslim south. The pugnacious

:01:08. > :01:13.prime minister was in Russia's President. Next week Vladimir Putin

:01:13. > :01:17.is standing once more for the presidency. But with bombings and

:01:18. > :01:26.assassinations here virtually every day, and attacks reaching as far as

:01:26. > :01:36.Moscow, it seems that he is strong armed policy has failed. Clearly a

:01:36. > :01:37.

:01:37. > :01:47.new approach is needed. Can soft power working said? -- instead.

:01:47. > :01:47.

:01:47. > :01:57.Good football stars bring peace to this war-torn land? -- can football

:01:57. > :02:12.

:02:12. > :02:16.Most Russians are too terrified to come to Pakistan, but tonight, the

:02:16. > :02:23.premier mosque our club is in town, to play the resurgent star-studded

:02:23. > :02:29.home side. -- Moscow club. Samuel Eto'o has signed to and see for a

:02:29. > :02:35.reported 20 milk -- $20 million a year, making him the world's best

:02:35. > :02:45.paid player. Roberto Carlos is the manager. -- Anzhi. The fans cheer

:02:45. > :02:47.

:02:47. > :02:51.on the team. And four minutes in, Samuel Eto'o scores. It is just the

:02:51. > :02:55.kind of morale booster that is needed in these volatile and very

:02:55. > :03:00.violent Republic. Those that have poured millions into the team will

:03:00. > :03:06.hope it is money well spent. But who is paying for all of this? It

:03:06. > :03:10.is a local boy turned billionaire. He is called Suleiman Kerimov, and

:03:10. > :03:14.he is the one bankrolling this football fantasy. The reclusive

:03:14. > :03:23.oligarch is rumoured to have had his appeal Fenny when his Ferrari

:03:23. > :03:29.crashed in 2006. -- his idea when his. He decided to invest in his

:03:29. > :03:34.homeland. But what the fans think of the global shopping spree? It is

:03:34. > :03:39.a place where most people are lucky enough to earn $300 a month.

:03:39. > :03:44.TRANSLATION: It is his money. He can do what he likes with it.

:03:44. > :03:48.Everything he is doing is for Dagestan, to support the Republic.

:03:48. > :03:55.This helps to distract people from terrorism. It is not just about

:03:55. > :04:00.football. Everything is connected. The Ecstasy wears off. The Moscow

:04:00. > :04:10.side equalise and then score another four goals. As the mood

:04:10. > :04:14.sours, I discover that the project is not without its critics. I see

:04:14. > :04:22.eight banner berating fans for ignoring Islamic principles. The

:04:22. > :04:28.men at next to it says that -- Subscribe to a growing Islam here.

:04:28. > :04:33.TRANSLATION: Good footballers are coming to the Republic and that is

:04:34. > :04:38.night. But we do not want football to be some kind of new religion. --

:04:38. > :04:43.that is nice. TRANSLATION: The Republic is the poorest part of the

:04:43. > :04:47.Russian Federation, but 20 million is spent per year on one player. It

:04:47. > :04:50.is like watching the Gladiators in ancient Rome when the people were

:04:51. > :04:58.starving. People are hungry year. They are being killed and we're in

:04:58. > :05:05.the middle of a civil war and yet they sit and watch these spectacles.

:05:05. > :05:11.Dagestan is in Russia's most troubled region, the largely Muslim

:05:11. > :05:16.north Caucasus mountains. Since Russia's first checks men wore in

:05:16. > :05:21.the mid-90s the violence has spread outwards. -- Chechnya. With

:05:21. > :05:24.different ethnic groups, Dagestan is the largest and now the most

:05:24. > :05:32.volatile republic in the Caucasus. For more than one decade it has

:05:32. > :05:35.been torn between his there must rebels and those loyal to Moscow. -

:05:35. > :05:40.- Islamist. You don't have to stray far from the football to see signs

:05:40. > :05:45.of this escalating civil war. Just around the corner from the stadium,

:05:45. > :05:50.I am being shown the site of the latest bomb blast. First a device

:05:50. > :05:54.exploded outside a shop selling alcohol. Then what -- then there

:05:54. > :05:57.was a second much more powerful last time it to coincide with the

:05:57. > :06:05.arrival of the emergency services. One policeman and a child were

:06:05. > :06:08.killed. 60 were injured. My guide is a counter-terrorist officer I

:06:08. > :06:15.met at the match but he does not want to show his face. Government

:06:15. > :06:20.officials and police are the main targets of the militants.

:06:20. > :06:25.TRANSLATION: Many of our colleagues die on duty. Many mothers have lost

:06:25. > :06:32.sons and wives have lost husbands. Children have lost their fathers.

:06:32. > :06:36.What can we do? We have to fight this battle to the end. This

:06:36. > :06:40.building is the centre of the fight against extremism. It is

:06:40. > :06:45.extraordinary that we are being given the chance to coincide and

:06:45. > :06:53.talk to the people who work here about their job. -- to go inside. I

:06:53. > :06:57.asked my guide whether things are improving. TRANSLATION:

:06:57. > :07:01.Unfortunately, it is not getting any better. They have become more

:07:01. > :07:05.brittle and more cynical. They're just people who will do anything. -

:07:06. > :07:12.- brutal. They have been sucked into the swamp and cannot get out.

:07:12. > :07:15.Another officer shows me a recent example of the brutality. The story

:07:15. > :07:19.of this man is particularly shocking. His father was a police

:07:19. > :07:23.chief who was shot dead. Then when his wife, his sister and his

:07:24. > :07:29.daughter went to put flowers on the freshly dug grave they were blown

:07:29. > :07:39.up. The last remaining member of the family was killed as well not

:07:39. > :07:50.

:07:50. > :07:54.The officer from the anti- extremism unit has agreed to show

:07:54. > :08:01.me one aspect of his job, an education campaign designed to win

:08:01. > :08:10.a young hearts and minds. The lecture hall at the university is

:08:10. > :08:14.packed to the brim. The police officer tells them about a medical

:08:14. > :08:23.student befriended online by rebels who later forced him to plant a car

:08:23. > :08:31.bomb. As bait uproot Imam of lectures the students about the

:08:31. > :08:38.Koran. -- state approved. He says it advocates peace. The students

:08:39. > :08:45.listened dutifully. But I want to know how the conflict has affected

:08:45. > :08:51.them. This young man witnessed a police special operation in his

:08:51. > :08:54.neighbourhood. TRANSLATION: A close the road, told everyone to get out,

:08:54. > :08:58.and went into a house where they killed three young men without any

:08:58. > :09:05.warning or reason. It was very shocking to see the bodies of those

:09:05. > :09:15.men in their early 20s. I asked why they think young people are taking

:09:15. > :09:18.

:09:18. > :09:22.up arms. TRANSLATION: There is very little work and of course they all

:09:22. > :09:26.need money and everyone wants freedom as well. Of course it is

:09:26. > :09:32.not right, but... The Dean interrupts and asks the young woman

:09:32. > :09:36.if she is a rebel sympathiser. TRANSLATION: no. Of course I do not

:09:36. > :09:42.support them. Then it was the turn of the being hit the official

:09:42. > :09:47.explanation. -- of the Dean of to give. TRANSLATION: There is a lack

:09:47. > :09:51.of jobs and it is true there are not many factories left. But the

:09:51. > :10:01.Almighty created work for everyone. You can work the land, and you can

:10:01. > :10:20.

:10:20. > :10:30.The Dean's ideas seems at odds with the industrial landscape outside

:10:30. > :10:36.the capital. This man is Suleiman Kerimov's right-hand man. He has

:10:36. > :10:39.few illusions about how the system works. TRANSLATION: Clever people

:10:39. > :10:44.finish their studies and discovered that the jobs have already been

:10:44. > :10:50.sold, in medicine, industry, the state sector in particular. People

:10:50. > :10:55.just cannot find work, said a leave the Republic. Pakistan has an

:10:55. > :11:02.unemployment rate of at least 40% and terrible corruption. --

:11:02. > :11:08.Dagestan. He tells me his boss Suleiman Kerimov wants to change

:11:08. > :11:12.all of this. TRANSLATION: He wants the Republic to develop. He wants

:11:12. > :11:22.there to be jobs and for talented people to succeed. He wants an end

:11:22. > :11:25.

:11:25. > :11:30.to the war. That is what he wants. Welcome to new Caspian city. A city

:11:30. > :11:35.of opportunity and of excellence. This is the promotion for his most

:11:35. > :11:39.ambitious project, a brave new world near the capital. Over the

:11:39. > :11:44.next few years the city will develop into a thriving, stable

:11:44. > :11:52.metropolis, providing homes, jobs, education, healthcare and leisure

:11:52. > :11:55.for hundreds of thousands of people. So far, Suleiman Kerimov's

:11:55. > :12:04.Foundation has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in social,

:12:04. > :12:08.health and education projects. Here on the plains, he is building a

:12:08. > :12:18.huge factory which will export class as far as Central Asia and

:12:18. > :12:23.Iran. The production line in this factory is deliberately low-tech to

:12:23. > :12:31.provide more jobs for women, you may have four or five children to

:12:31. > :12:37.support. -- who may have. Meanwhile, these young men have come for a

:12:37. > :12:47.fitness test in the hope of getting a much coveted job as a security

:12:47. > :12:56.

:12:56. > :13:02.He shows me the IS Stadium, another part of Suleiman Kerimov's in find

:13:03. > :13:09.a strategy. He is finalising plans for another stadium for potential

:13:09. > :13:13.use in Russia's 2018 World Cup. TRANSLATION: Football was just a

:13:13. > :13:19.starting point. What that it -- what is going on is very bad. If

:13:19. > :13:26.there were jobs there would be something. If I had no job, no food,

:13:26. > :13:30.I may take up arms as well. I say that it seems to me that Suleiman

:13:31. > :13:35.Kerimov is doing more than the Government. TRANSLATION: Indeed he

:13:35. > :13:38.is. Everybody knows he is doing more than the Government. Take the

:13:38. > :13:44.stadium, which was originally a government project. But nothing was

:13:44. > :13:54.done. Now Suleiman Kerimov has bought it and it is being built

:13:54. > :14:00.

:14:00. > :14:03.properly. The public funds were Sickened by entrenched corruption,

:14:03. > :14:13.more and more people are drawn to new ideas and are rejecting the

:14:13. > :14:16.

:14:16. > :14:21.mainstream. Football is no exception. At the league has 32

:14:21. > :14:25.teams playing every Sunday morning. Their game is based on Islamic

:14:25. > :14:29.inspired principles of self- discipline and restraint. Swearing

:14:29. > :14:36.and fighting are not tolerated. There are no yellow or red cards,

:14:36. > :14:45.and surprisingly, no referee. The league's cord and 80 is dismissive

:14:45. > :14:50.of his money-driven model to. TRANSLATION: I do not like the

:14:50. > :15:00.slogan. We live in the territory of Dagestan, which I would like to be,

:15:00. > :15:00.

:15:00. > :15:10.the territory of Islam. There followed -- there followed a street

:15:10. > :15:12.

:15:12. > :15:20.brand of Islam. He tells me that they aspire to a new social order

:15:20. > :15:24.in Dagestan, one built on Sharia law. TRANSLATION: If we see a

:15:24. > :15:30.brother kissing a woman or drinking, we discreetly remind him of where

:15:30. > :15:36.he lives. I asked him how people react. TRANSLATION: Generally,

:15:36. > :15:41.people react well. Believe me, if we had our way, you would not be

:15:41. > :15:44.able to buy alcohol or tobacco here, and you would never find women who

:15:45. > :15:51.walk around uncovered like you. What does he think about the people

:15:51. > :15:57.who take up arms for the cause? These people have chosen a certain

:15:57. > :16:02.path and will answer for what they do. If they are right, then there

:16:02. > :16:12.awaits them of enormous prizes, hundreds of times greater than mine

:16:12. > :16:13.

:16:13. > :16:17.for on -- than mine. Many do one of the jihadists. This man has been

:16:17. > :16:25.killed in a shoot-out with police, and was praised on the internet as

:16:25. > :16:29.a holy martyr. This attack took place in a supermarket selling

:16:29. > :16:34.alcohol. After throwing everybody out and planting the explosive

:16:34. > :16:42.device, these militants went on a shooting spree, killing a couple of

:16:43. > :16:47.policemen before they were gunned down themselves. This is a deputy

:16:47. > :16:55.agriculture minister. He can be seen walking past a garage in the

:16:55. > :16:59.downtown, when a man sues him in broad daylight. -- shoots him. The

:16:59. > :17:04.authorities struggle to respond to these attacks. Police are accused

:17:04. > :17:12.of being heavy-handed, for making mistakes. The result is it more

:17:12. > :17:16.bloodshed. I have come to investigate an incident in a

:17:16. > :17:26.village three others from the capital. Few people have Topsy and

:17:26. > :17:29.

:17:29. > :17:39.prospects are bleak. -- have jobs. This must have begun to attract a

:17:39. > :17:45.new crowd of young believers. -- and this mosque. In May, during

:17:46. > :17:50.Friday prayers, the building was surrounded by armed security forces.

:17:50. > :18:00.Officers burst in and arrested 150 worshippers, including 15

:18:00. > :18:00.

:18:00. > :18:03.schoolboys. He shows me evidence of abuse. The men and boys were all

:18:03. > :18:07.taken to a police station where they were beaten, and some had

:18:07. > :18:15.their hair torn out and their beards were shaved off. He said

:18:15. > :18:18.that the village teachers are paid to be complicit. TRANSLATION:

:18:18. > :18:23.Deeply summon the headmaster and his deputy to the police station.

:18:23. > :18:33.Most teachers saw the badly bruised young men. They knew perfectly well

:18:33. > :18:35.

:18:35. > :18:39.what was going on. The Head Master of was a sworn enemy of the people.

:18:39. > :18:42.At this heated public meeting immediately after the invasion, he

:18:42. > :18:47.claimed the young radicals would soon impose Sharia law on the

:18:47. > :18:50.village and force all the women to wear veils. He denounced a reign of

:18:50. > :18:55.terror in which pro secular teachers like him, had been

:18:55. > :19:05.murdered. Little did he suspect that he would become the next

:19:05. > :19:13.target. I head for the school and find one teacher who agrees to tell

:19:13. > :19:18.me what happened to his boss on the night of July 9th, last year.

:19:18. > :19:23.TRANSLATION: They shot him in his home. It was point blank range in

:19:23. > :19:33.the face. His wife and son were watching TV. Who did it and why?

:19:33. > :19:40.

:19:40. > :19:48.Nobody knows. He tells me that he is short that the militants kill

:19:48. > :19:53.the school head. TRANSLATION: He was a victim of the extremist

:19:53. > :19:59.movement. His speeches and insults were on the internet and everywhere

:19:59. > :20:04.and the underground heard about it. I asked him about what he thinks

:20:04. > :20:08.about what happened. A TRANSLATION: We do not think that murdering

:20:08. > :20:18.people is the way to solve problems. That is not the way to bring about

:20:18. > :20:25.justice. This war has been going on for 20 years. This man says he is

:20:25. > :20:34.determined to stop it. He is an MP, and the architect of a new policy,

:20:34. > :20:38.which seeks dialogue with the militants. He says there are

:20:38. > :20:44.released 20 terraced websites targeting Dagestani youth. So he is

:20:44. > :20:50.keen to show me how he is also familiar with new media, and how he

:20:50. > :20:57.will beat the jihadists online and get the government's message into

:20:57. > :21:01.cyberspace. TRANSLATION: No religion or ideology can justified

:21:01. > :21:08.the explosions, terrorist acts and murders, today the caucuses,

:21:08. > :21:12.Dagestani included, are being targeted by terrorist organisations.

:21:12. > :21:22.They are deceiving young people, and making cannon fodder out of

:21:22. > :21:26.

:21:26. > :21:36.them. We are offering ways for them to come back to their families.

:21:36. > :21:36.

:21:36. > :21:44.even has invited some local bodies into his office. -- bloggers. It is

:21:44. > :21:54.almost midnight. This kind of openness is rare in Russia. One of

:21:54. > :22:02.

:22:02. > :22:07.the bloggers, she seizes the opportunity ask about the events.

:22:07. > :22:10.He questions the bloggers authority to ask, though he is not a lawyer,

:22:10. > :22:15.but he does concede that the investigation has stored and should

:22:15. > :22:23.get moving. But I ask him whether some people are forced into the

:22:23. > :22:27.woods by police abuse. TRANSLATION: With all the terrorist attacks, the

:22:27. > :22:31.police have enough of their own problems. So this claim that they

:22:31. > :22:38.had nothing better to do to walk the streets and beat people up for

:22:38. > :22:42.no reason is just untrue. We have dozens of criminal cases. That

:22:42. > :22:46.shows that the legal system is working. Maybe it is not as

:22:46. > :22:56.efficient as it could be, but the reports coming, and they are always

:22:56. > :22:56.

:22:56. > :23:01.looked into. But for many, that is not enough. This demonstration

:23:01. > :23:07.shows how frustrated many young Dagestanis have become, prompting

:23:07. > :23:11.some people to predict the onset of an Arab Spring over here. It may

:23:12. > :23:16.not be Tahrir Square, but in these recent demonstration, nearly 4,000

:23:16. > :23:22.came to denounce arrests and kidnappings by the security

:23:22. > :23:32.services. Human rights groups estimate that last year, 160 men

:23:32. > :23:32.

:23:32. > :23:36.were killed in police operations, 36 were abducted. He is also trying

:23:36. > :23:46.to build bridges. He promises action, but the reception is

:23:46. > :23:50.hostile. He pleads with the crowd to give Dialog a chance. He says

:23:50. > :24:00.that together, they can bring the wrongdoers to account. The crowd is

:24:00. > :24:06.

:24:06. > :24:10.asked whether they believe him. No, no, they shout. There is far more

:24:10. > :24:20.sympathy for this man's view, that the state has failed, and only

:24:20. > :24:29.

:24:30. > :24:34.Sharia law can deliver peace and order. Such scenes caused deep

:24:34. > :24:38.alarm in the corridors of the Kremlin. Islam has been here since

:24:38. > :24:45.the 7th century, and Dagestan remains one of the most religious

:24:46. > :24:50.parts of the Russian Federation. Most Dagestanis reject the violence

:24:50. > :25:00.endorsed by the insurgents, but with all the problems here,

:25:00. > :25:05.

:25:05. > :25:15.tolerance is increasingly under siege.

:25:15. > :25:20.Back at the stadium, young fans are watching a training session. They

:25:21. > :25:27.boast to me that their team will sue been playing in Europe. -- will

:25:27. > :25:33.soon be. Forepaw in Dagestan may be entering a golden age, and it is