Generals in Moscow coup attempt
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Your support makes all the difference.Russia's fastest rising politician, Alexander Lebed, yesterday claimed to have snuffed out an attempted military coup after the sacking of the Russian defence minister, Pavel Grachev.
General Lebed said that he intervened after a group of generals gathered outside Mr Grachev's office, and tried to persuade him to put the army on red alert in an effort to persuade President Boris Yeltsin to reverse the dismissal decision.
At a press conference yesterday, General Lebed compared the scheme to the failed coup of 1991, in which a group of hardline Communists tried to unseat Mikhail Gorbachev, accelerating the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. He later toned down his claims, saying it was merely an attempt to put pressure on Mr Yeltsin. But he repeated allegations of a thwarted coup on Russian television last night.
His remarks appear to have caused consternation in the Russian government - the Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, said he knew nothing of General Lebed's accusation and described reports of a challenge to Mr Yeltsin as "stupid".
The general yesterday shot to the lofty heights of secretary of the policy- making security council and national security adviser after coming third in Sunday's first round of the presidential election with almost 15 per cent of the vote. His appointment to some of the most sought-after jobs in the Kremlin was a blatant effort by President Yeltsin to win over his voters in the election run-off.
The retired general, a moderate nationalist who campaigned on his ruthless attitude to law and order, accused five generals, together with the Georgian defence minister, of being at the offending meeting.
Although details of the incident remained cloudy last night, General Lebed told NTV that he ordered the central command point at the army's general headquarters to place a block on forwarding any orders made by the sacked General Grachev, whom he has long regarded as an arch-enemy.
He said he went to the Moscow district military headquarters to intercept the former minister's commands, and issued a telegram to all units telling them about his appointment and asking them to keep calm and continue with military exercises.
"I do not know the thrilling details of how it was planned to be," he said. "I just took my own measures." He said it was his duty as secretary of the security council to prevent "any conflicts which could be dangerous for the state".
Grachev fired, page 8
Leading article, page 11
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