Fiery general but a naive politician

As Russia's democracy teeters, it is tempting for the beleaguered Russian people to look for saviours.

Alexander Lebed would like to be such a saviour. However, as this biography shows, he is an unpredictable, complex, paradoxical man. At one moment he is railing against corruption and Kremlin demagogues: the next, he sounds like a demagogue himself. It is difficult to tell if this is just part of his Russian character or an indication of his political inexperience.

Harold Elletson knows all about politics. A Conservative minister of parliament in Britain until the last election, he is fluent in Russian, and was respected on both sides of parliament for his knowledge of Russian affairs. He has travelled extensively in Chechnya and the chapter on the war there is the most perceptive part of this book.

But he does not seem to have been able to get the full measure of the man who, should democracy survive until elections in 2000, could be his country's next president. Too often Elletson is uncritical of Mr Lebed's considerable failings.

What Elletson does convey is that while Mr Lebed may be a callow politician, he was an excellent soldier.

From his early days in the elite Airborne Forces, Mr Lebed displayed strong leadership skills. He rose quickly and by the time he was sent to Afghanistan for his first taste of action, aged 31, he was already head of a battalion. What he saw there shocked him. The army was disorganised, soldiers lived in squalor and officers were incompetent.

Mr Lebed reacted with his legendary temper against his superiors. Insubordination punctuated his military career, but it got results. Thanks to him, conditions improved for the men under his command, in Afghanistan and in later postings in Nggorno-Karabakh and Moldova. In these last two trouble spots, he showed great skill in defusing inter-ethnic tensions. By the summer of 1991 he was a major-general and deputy head of the Airborne Forces.