Alexander Lebed entered the history of Russia as a military man and politician, whose activities fell on a turning point in the life of the country. He participated in operations known to the whole world: Afghan, Transnistrian and Chechen. He did not have long to stay at the governor's post and solve the problems of a peaceful region. A tragic death interrupted the flight of the Swan in its full swing.
Childhood and youth
Lebed Alexander Ivanovich began his life on April 20, 1950 in Novocherkassk. By nationality - Russian. True, his father - Ivan Andreevich - was a native of Ukraine. He came to Russia as a member of the family of an exiled kulak. After exile, war and demobilization, he settled in Novocherkassk, where he worked as a Trudovik at school. Alexander's mother, Ekaterina Grigoryevna, was a nee Don Cossack. She worked at the telegraph office.
Having received a school certificate in 1967, Alexander Lebed tried to realize his childhood dream - to become a conquerorheaven. Three times he entered the flight schools of Armavir and Volgograd, but they did not take him. Over and over again, the medical board issued a verdict: “sitting height exceeds the norm.”
In between jobs, he worked as a loader and a worker at a permanent magnet plant in Novocherkassk (position - grinder).
Military career
In 1969, luck did smile on the stubborn guy. Alexander Lebed was enrolled in the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School. Upon completion, the young and zealous specialist remains to work within the walls of the alma mater, where he commands first a platoon, and then a company.
Of course, Lebed, as a professional military man, could not bypass Afghanistan. From 1981 to 1982 he fought with the "dushmans" as a battalion commander. Returned home after a shell shock.
The war did not push Alexander Ivanovich off the chosen path. On the contrary, he decides to realize himself even more fully in this field and becomes a student of the Military Academy. Frunze immediately upon his return from Afghanistan. In 1985 he graduated with honors. And the nomadic barracks life flowed, which Lebed Alexander Ivanovich managed to “eat” enough.
In 1985, he replaced the commander of the regiment in Ryazan, in 1986 he commanded the Kostroma parachute regiment, until 1988 he served as deputy commander of the Pskov division and until 1991 inclusive he commanded the airborne division in Tula. In this post, A. Lebed had a chance to take part in the Azerbaijani and Georgian peacekeeping operations.
In 1990, efforts andAlexander Ivanovich's devotion was rewarded - he was promoted to the rank of major general.
Swan-politician
And troubled times came in the USSR. The collapse was coming. A prominent military figure could not stay away from the turbulent political events. However, he did not forget about his profession, successfully combining one with the other.
In 1990, Alexander Lebed was elected a delegate to the 28th Congress of the Communist Party and the founding congress of the Communist Party of Russia. And soon he managed to become a member of the Central Committee of the latter.
At the end of the winter of 1991, Lebed replaced the commander of the airborne troops in higher education and combat training. Summer brought everyone, including him, a lot of trials.
When the coup broke out in August, Alexander Lebed first carried out the commands of the State Emergency Committee. But he quickly reorients himself and turns his weapon towards the rebels. Most likely, if not for such actions, a lot of bloodshed would not have been avoided.
The next year was also difficult for Lebed. In June 1992, he arrived on the territory of Tiraspol to stabilize the situation (there was an armed conflict in full swing there). And in September 1993 he was even elected to the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
In the early summer of 1995, after a conflict with Pavel Grachev on Chechen issues, Alexander Lebed submitted his resignation letter and was early transferred to the reserve. In the same year, he became the head of the All-Russian movement "Honor and Motherland" and a deputy of the State Duma of the second convocation.
In 1996 he was nominated forcandidates for the post of President of the Russian Federation. And the result of the election race pleased - Lebed came third, receiving 14.7 percent of the vote. In the second round, he supported Yeltsin, for which Boris Nikolayevich, having won, thanked him with the post of Secretary of the Security Council and Assistant to the President of Russia on National Security Issues.
In this post, he participated in the end of the military conflict in Chechnya. He was dismissed by Yeltsin's decree in the middle of autumn of the same 1996.
Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory: a new round in his biography
In May 1998, retired lieutenant general Alexander Lebed was elected governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In this position, he was remembered by citizens for numerous loud statements regarding the situation in the region and in the state in general. In particular, he told the whole world that the organizer of terrorist acts in Russia could well be its government…
Private life
Alexander Lebed had one marriage in February 1971. He met his wife Inna Aleksandrovna Chirkova in his early youth - while working as a grinder at a magnet factory in Novocherkassk. The couple gave birth and raised three children: sons Alexander and Ivan and daughter Ekaterina.
Tragedy: how Alexander Lebed died
The leadership of one of the Siberian regions of Russia was the last mission of this courageous and straightforward man, who devoted most of his life to military affairs. Perhaps his seditious speeches or just bad luck played a role … But on April 282002 Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Lebed died.
It so happened that destroyed his sky, which he had dreamed of since childhood. Together with his subordinates, the governor flew to open the ski slope. Their helicopter crashed over the village of Aradan. According to the official story, he crashed into a power line.
The pilots survived and have already served their sentences. And Alexander Lebed, whose death then shook the whole country, remained only in memories and memos. So, the name of the general today is one of the streets of Novocherkassk. Another one is located in Kuragino. The cadet corps in the regional center of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and even the top of the Ergaki ridge in the Western Sayan Mountains were named after Lebed.
