Aleksandr Lebed at a 1996 news conference in Moscow. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь) (April 20, 1950–April 28, 2002) was a Russian Lieutenant General and popular politician, who was killed in a Mi-8 helicopter crash. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ... Russian Mi-8 Hip The Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name Hip) is a large transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. ... The Bell 206 of Canadian Helicopters Robinson Helicopter Company (USA) R44, a four seat development of the R22 A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors consisting of two or more rotor blades. ...

Alexander Lebed was the commander of the 106th Airborne Division from 1990 to 1991. Lebed had come to Russian national attention after the Soviet Coup of 1991, in which a conspiracy of old-guard Communist hard-liners sought to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev's government and reverse his reforms. At the height of the crisis, the Army had been ordered by Communist hard-liners to surround the White House, the seat of the Russian parliament. General Lebed was given orders to send tanks but never took any action against the parliamentarians and Boris Yeltsin, the president of Russian SFSR. Later, Lebed was promoted and became deputy to the Commander of Russia's Airborne Troops, general Pavel Grachev. Paratroopers from the Tula Division stand to attention during an exercise in Kazakhstan. ... The Soviet Coup of 1991 or the August Coup crushed the hopes of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that he could at least hold the union together in a decentralized form. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: , Michail Sergeevič Gorbačëv), IPA: , surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; born March 2, 1931) is a Russian politician. ... Yeltsin redirects here. ... State motto: Russian: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! Translation: Workers of the world, unite! Capital Moscow Official language Russian Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until November 7, 1917 November 7, 1917 December 12, 1991 (dissolution) Area  - Total  - Water (%) Ranked 1st in the USSR 17,075,200 km² 13% Population  - Total   - Density Ranked 1st in the... VDV flag. ... Russian Defence Minister Pavel Grachev speaking in the State Duma in 1994. ...

After seeing action violently quelling dissent in the Caucasus during the 1980s, including brutally dispersing a pro-independence rally in front of the government building in Tbilisi Georgia that left twenty dead, Alexander Lebed was from June 1992 the commander of the 14th Russian Army, based in Moldova, playing a major role in the Conflict in Transnistria and Gagauzia crisis. The April 9 Tragedy (or the Tbilisi Massacre of 9 April 1989) refers to the bloody events in Tbilisi, Georgia on April 9, 1989, when peaceful anti-Soviet and pro-independence demonstrations were brutally dispersed by the Soviet army using entrenching spades and toxic gas. ... Coordinates:  - Governing Mayor Giorgi Gigi Ugulava Area    - City 372 km²  (143. ... 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Conflict in Transnistria and Gagauzia refers to the inter-ethnic tensions in the regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia in post- Soviet Moldova in 1989-1992 and the War of Transnistria in March-July 1992. ...

On May 30, 1995 he resigned his commission to enter the political arena of post-Soviet Russia. In the elections to the State Duma in December 1995, Lebed headed the list of a moderately nationalist party Congress of Russian Communities (Конгресс русских общин). The party did not manage to pass the 5% barrier to get seats in the parliament, but Lebed himself was elected in a single constituency. May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see State Duma (disambiguation). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Lebed ran as a candidate in the 1996 Russian presidential election and finished third with 14.5% of vote in the first round of voting. Two days after the first round, the incumbent president Boris Yeltsin appointed Lebed to the post of the Secretary of Security Council of the Russian Federation and the President's National Security Advisor. Lebed in turn endorsed Yeltsin in the runoff election two weeks later and Yeltsin won the runoff. Presidential elections were held in the Russian Federation in 1996. ... Yeltsin redirects here. ...

Lebed's politics were distinctly military. He endorsed Augusto Pinochet's success in Chile, saying in an article "preserving the army is the basis for preserving the government." Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte[1] (November 25, 1915–December 10, 2006) was a general and President of Chile. ...

As a skilful politician, Lebed, who was an author of several poems, on advice of his political technologists began to growl and expressly use fourletter words during his public appearances, representing an "awful Russian nationalist".

As chairman of the Security Council, Lebed led negotiations with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and signed agreements in the Dagestan town of Khasavyurt which ended the First Chechen War in August 1996. He was sacked from the Security Council by President Yeltsin in October 1996, following Lebed's major conflict with the influential Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov. Aslan Maskhadov Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov (Russian: Аслан Алиевич Масхадов) (September 21, 1951 – March 8, 2005) was a leader of the separatist movement in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya. ... Republic of Dagestan IPA: (Russian: ; Avar: , Daɣistanłul Džumħuriyat), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... Khasavyurt (Russian: ) is a city in Dagestan, Russia. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Interior Minister is a member of a Cabinet in a Government. ...

On September 7, 1997, an alarming story broke in which Lebed alleged during an interview with the TV newsmagazine Sixty Minutes that a hundred of Soviet-made suitcase-sized nuclear weapons designed for sabotage "are not under the control of the armed forces of Russia". Government of the Russian Federation rejected Lebed's claims and stated that such weapons had never been created ^[1]. However, GRU defector Stanislav Lunev confirmed that such nuclear devices existed and speculated that they possibly have been already deployed ^[2] 60 Minutes is the name of an American magazine-format television news program produced by CBS News. ... A suitcase bomb is a bomb which uses a suitcase as its delivery method. ... German supply train blown up by the Armia Krajowa during World War II Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy, oppressor or employer through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction. ... For other uses, see GRU (disambiguation). ... Stanislav Lunev (born 1946 in Leningrad) is the highest-ranking GRU officer to defect from Russia to the United States. ...

In May 17, 1998, Lebed won the election for the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai. He served in this position until his death in a controversial helicopter crash on April 28, 2002, popular with the military to the last. Official cause of the crash was the collision of the helicopter with electric lines during a foggy weather in the Sayan Mountains. His death is surrounded by several conspiracy theories. May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (138th in leap years). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ... Krasnoyarsk Krai (Russian: ) (2002 pop. ... April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The Sayan Mountains (Russian, Sayanskiy Khrebet) is a mountain range in southern Siberia, Asia, forming the eastern continuation of the Sailughem or Altay range, stretching from 89° E to 106° E. Orographically they are the N border-ridge of the plateau of NW Mongolia, and separate that region from Siberia. ... A conspiracy theory is a theory that defies common historical or current understanding of events, under the claim that those events are the result of manipulations by two or more individuals or various secretive powers or conspiracies. ...

References

1. ^ "Suitcase Nukes": A Reassessment, 2002 article by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies
2. ^ Stanislav Lunev. Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Autobiography of Stanislav Lunev, Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-89526-390-4

The Monterey Institute of International Studies (its acronym is MIIS) is a graduate school in Monterey, California, United States, that specializes in programs in international relations, international business, and translation and interpretation. ... Stanislav Lunev (born 1946 in Leningrad) is the highest-ranking GRU officer to defect from Russia to the United States. ...

External links

• Lebed biography
• "Alexander Lebed and suitcase nukes"