Alexander Lebed

Alexander Lebed in 1996

Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Russian Airborne Troops before running for president in the 1996 Russian presidential election. He did not win, but placed third behind incumbent Boris Yeltsin and the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, with roughly 14% of the vote nation-wide. Lebed later served as the Secretary of the Security Council in the Yeltsin administration, and eventually became the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, the second largest Russian region. He served four years in the latter position, until his death in a helicopter crash in 2002.

Quotes

• It is up to the state to do it, but there has been nothing but talk and wishful thinking. It's like the tale of the emperor's new clothes. Everyone acted as if the emperor were dressed, until a small boy said he was naked. This is where we stand with reform.
  • On the reforms in the Russian Army
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• Chechnya will force the politicians to start serious reform. They can begin by purging the armed forces of windbags and replacing them with a million fighters and half a million support staff.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• To win, you've got to plan carefully and then make war with the speed of lightning.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• Human beings are not trash. Human blood is not water to be spilled.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• I never defended the White House. I defended common sense. They tried to push me, a Russian general, to shoot my own people in the capital of my own state. No such force exists that would compel me to do this. I'm not a policeman. My job is to deal with external enemies. Build up a national guard or whatever you want to deal with domestic problems, but leave the armed forces out of it!
  • On if he was one of the defenders of the White House in August 1991
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• No commander can know everything. He must rely on deputies, competent in the narrow areas assigned them. His responsibility is to make sure none of them tugs the blanket to one side of the bed. A deputy who answers 'yes, sir' to every stupid thing his commander says can get his boss into serious trouble. He must have the courage to take a stand and be able to defend it.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• In a normal civilized society, you would have to force the army into politics with a stick. They should not be concerned with who is in power today, be it Czar, General Secretary or President. Presidents come and go, but the motherland always remains. We are not in a normal state.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• I joined the armed forces 25 years ago and still love military service and want to carry on. But these are troubled times, when everything is so confused you can't tell military issues from political ones. So I do not rule out the possibility that I might be forced to it out of necessity. But I don't really want to. If I get carried away in this direction sometimes, it is only out of gloom and desperation, not because I have some overwhelming desire to prove my political mettle.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• Only in the constitutional way. I've had more than my share of war and have come to the conclusion that it doesn't resolve anything. Even the longest wars, lasting a hundred years, still end in peace talks. So why not talk right away and cut out the military fighting stage? There can't be a victor in the kinds of war they are waging now in the former Soviet Union, only throngs of defeated.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• They charged like a bull at the Chechen fence and got their horns stuck. Now they are going crazy out of their own incompetence.
  • "Awaiting His Nation's Call: Russia's General Lebed" in TIME (27 February 1995)

• We have received reliable information from the ground in Chechnya that people there are planning the physical annihilation of Gen. Aleksandr Lebed. These are people who do not want the negotiating process in Chechnya to proceed. We do not believe that it is necessarily the Chechens who plan this action. It is not the first time there have been threats like this. It will have no effect on the work before us.
  • "The Wars Of Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed" in The New York Times (13 October 1996)

• You send in the planes to drop the bombs. Then you gather the journalists and tell them to applaud. We need to study that.
  • "The Wars Of Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed" in The New York Times (13 October 1996)

• If they want to expand, let them waste the money. Let us be realistic. Who is Russia going to fight now? We are a poor country. We have nothing left to fight with.
  • On the expansion of NATO
  • "The Wars Of Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed" in The New York Times (13 October 1996)

• I am ready to lead any regiment into any battle. Just as long as it is a regiment drawn only of children and grandchildren of the people who run our country.
  • "The Wars Of Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed" in The New York Times (13 October 1996)

• "We are still a great power. We have rockets. They are rusty, but we still have them. It won't make anyone's life easier if a missile is launched, even if it's a rusty one.
  • "Maverick General Upstages Yeltsin" in The Washington Post (21 October 1995)

• Let us have troops that would scare any aggressor off. These troops should be backed by the nuclear shield.
  • "Maverick General Upstages Yeltsin" in The Washington Post (21 October 1995)

• If Russia and NATO cooperate, who are they going to be against? There used to be two systems, two military blocs. One system collapsed. Its military bloc collapsed. And the other part remains in perfect operating order. That beautiful NATO bloc was first aimed at the Soviet Union, and it would be a pity to abandon it. So, now it is re-aimed at Russia.
  • "Maverick General Upstages Yeltsin" in The Washington Post (21 October 1995)

• Russia must be loved, not because you want to. Russia is like gangrene on the leg. If you don't take measures against it, it will infect the whole leg.
  • "Maverick General Upstages Yeltsin" in The Washington Post (21 October 1995)

• We are standing on one-sixth of the world, a rich country, with our pants down and hoping someone will help us.
  • "Maverick General Upstages Yeltsin" in The Washington Post (21 October 1995)

• Power must be strong. Patriot will never be a dirty word, whereas democrat has already become one.
  • "Maverick General Upstages Yeltsin" in The Washington Post (21 October 1995)