The Warrior Who Would Rule Russia: A Profile of Aleksandr Lebed

by Benjamin S. Lambeth

Release Date: April, 1997

Edition: Paperback

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Aleksandr Lebed was a man to watch...

Unfortunately, he was killed in a helicopter crash in Krasnoyarsk, Russia...Spring of 2002.

A man to watch.

Former general Lebed, despite some legitimate Western concerns about his authoritarianism and inexperience in international affairs, comes off in this Rand/USAF study as a not unreasonable alternative to the political and economic chaos of post-Soviet Russia.
His early years are sketched in a few words, leaving many unanswered questions about his character and early development, but his expressed opinions and political maneuverings are charted here in a way which provides some illumination. He seems neither the Russian Napoleon some fear nor the saintly figure seen by the simpler Russian voter, but, possibly, a man with whom the West could do business.
The book is necessarily dated, and doesn't cover Lebed's dismissal as Yeltsin's national security advisor, nor his relatively obscure more recent activities, but is of value nonetheless as scarce material on a man with whom the West may yet reckon.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)