Russia looses a warrior

[ralphwiggum 6]

I just took some break, and got this story

From CNN

I regarded Lebed as the prime example of how a military should conduct itself in time of political turmoil. While facing possible retaliation from communist coup, he turned his back against rebels and decided to follow what he has to follow.

I'd like to give a salute to the man who defined a soldier should be.

R.I.P General Lebed.

here's copy of story

Russian politician killed in crash

April 28, 2002 Posted: 109 AM EDT (1409 GMT)

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Alexander Lebed, who played an important role in foiling the 1991 coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ran for president against Boris Yeltsin five years later, has died in a helicopter crash, officials said.

The 52-year-old governor of the vast Krasnoyarsk territory of Siberia died in hospital after the Mi-8 in which he was travelling came down on Sunday morning near the town of Abakan, about 3,400 km (2,100 miles) east of Moscow, Russian television reported.

There were 19 people, including a three-member crew, aboard the helicopter when it crashed after hitting a power line, The Associated Press reported the Emergency Situations Ministry in Moscow as saying. Seven, including Lebed, died, and 12 were in critical condition in hospital, a ministry official said.

CNN's Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said the pugnacious, outspoken action man was hugely popular.

"Built like a bear and hands like a vice, he was gruff, outspoken and didn't kowtow to anyone," she said. "This came across on TV and really appealed to Russians."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the families of all those killed in the crash, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

A military man for most of his life, Lebed first gained fame during the August 1991 coup against Gorbachev. The coup leaders ordered him to send in his paratroopers to surround the headquarters of Russian President Boris Yeltsin. He refused, a move that to a large degree led to the coup's collapse.

In 1995 after a dispute with the defence minister Lebed was forced to retire from the military. The father of three turned to politics and won a seat in parliament. A year later, he ran for president, coming in third. Yeltsin named him head of the Presidential Security Council where he brokered an end to the first war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

In 1998 Lebed was elected governor of Krasnoyarsk, an area four times the size of France, where he quickly ruffled feathers, falling foul of local business barons who helped him become governor but whom he later called "mafia." Lebed called in police investigators from Moscow to help stamp his authority.

Alexei Arbatov, deputy head of parliamentary defence committee, said Lebed's passing was likely to upset a shaky political balance in the region which hinged to a vast degree on the charismatic governor's popularity.

"Passions will be boiling and big money will come into play," Arbatov told Ekho Moskvy radio. "In a region like Krasnoyarsk, the life and fate of large capitals, groupings and influential individuals depend on the governor.

Arbatov said Lebed had made many enemies in Krasnoyarsk and said the crash might have been orchestrated by one of them.

But CNN's Dougherty said all the early signs were that the crash was an accident.

There were journalists on board, too, she said, the weather was bad and it appeared the helicopter had simply flown into the power lines in near-zero visibility.

A commission to investigate the crash, headed by Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, has been set up, Interfax reported

[Wobble 1]

never heard of him, but anyone who does they belive is right with disregard to their own well being.. deserves respect

[Guest]

Lebed has participated in most of the former Soviet Union's and Russia's military conflicts for the last fifteen years. He fought in Afghanistan in 1981-82. He was part of the forces that quelled unrest in the Caucasus: after the anti-Armenian pogrom in Sumgait in the autumn of 1988, the crackdown in Tbilisi in April 1989, and the occupation of Baku in January 1990. During the 1991 coup, Lebed was sent with his troops from Tula to occupy Moscow. He helped to prevent an attack on Yeltsin's headquarters in the White House of Russia, although he later claimed that he did not take sides during the conflict, and would have carried out a direct order to take the White House.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Lebed is dead Oh my god

RIP

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Wobble @ April 29 2002,03:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">anyone who does they belive is right with disregard to their own well being.. deserves respect<span id='postcolor'>

Eh..hmm...errr.. right.. not

[Wobble 1]

awwwww shaddap denoir you know what I ment

[Guest]

I know, I just couldn't resist

[USSoldier11B 0]

Denior they ought to change your member level from "Swedish war hero" to "disgruntled veteran."

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (USSoldier11B @ April 29 2002,06:33)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Denior they ought to change your member level from "Swedish war hero" to "disgruntled veteran." <span id='postcolor'>

Please don't give them any ideas

Any way, I am not disgruntled.......

A day without blood is like a day without sunshine!

[pathfinder 0]

It's ashame he had to die , the U.S. didn't know what to make of him when he ran for russian prez. Over here they painted him like an old hardliner trying to rise to power, but I knew that wasn't true. He later said that suitcase nukes were missing from russia and got everyone stired up over here.

In my eyes he epitomized the russian bear look. And should'ev taken over when Yeltsin was sick( glug glug) because over here it looked like noone was at the wheel of that country, more than half the time. And it seemed he cared more about the people (and his liver ) than Yeltsin.

R.I.P Lebed

[Antichrist 0]

That was no f******* accident  

At least if you want to call Dallas 1963 an accident  

[ralphwiggum 6]

what was Lebed upto these day? besides being the governor? probably those 'mafias' finally got rid of him?

[pathfinder 0]

A site with some good infoinfo

He had many enemys ,but if It was murder (and I doubt it ,the russian maifia would be pretty low on the list)

Im going to be following this story.

[USSoldier11B 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Please don't give them any ideas

Any way, I am not disgruntled.......

A day without blood is like a day without sunshine!

<span id='postcolor'>

Lol!

"Beautiful Vietnam, the jewel of SouthEast Asia. I came here to meet interesting people an kill them."

"I want to be the first kid on my block to have a confirmed kill."

"I need some trigger time."

Too bad about Lebed. I wouldn't be surprised if someone offed him. Espeically if he had a hand in colapsing communism in Russia. My hero. USSoldier11B is a captialist pig.

[R. Gerschwarzenge 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (USSoldier11B @ April 29 2002,10:49)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">My hero. USSoldier11B is a captialist pig.<span id='postcolor'>

Do you still want that special member level? You just gave me an idea.

[USSoldier11B 0]

Heaven forbid. I'd never live that one down.

[Claymore 0]

Denoir, are you Motheranimal from Suddenstrike messageboard???

[Antichrist 0]

Nah russian mafia doesn't even exist, u're just watching too many Hollywood movies, the Russian mafia is russian government

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Claymore @ April 29 2002,12:44)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Denoir, are you Motheranimal from Suddenstrike messageboard??? <span id='postcolor'>

nope, but I know who mother animal was in the movie