BY MAURICE WILLIAMS

A fight for political supremacy in Moscow's ruling caste deepened as ailing Russian president Boris Yeltsin dismissed national security adviser Alexander Lebed on October 17, following accusations that Lebed was plotting a coup. Appearing weak and ill a month before scheduled heart bypass surgery, Yeltsin said on national television that he "could not tolerate" Lebed, who "is splitting the team apart."

Yeltsin also fired the deputy commander of airborne forces on October 17 and dismissed Gen. Mikhail Kolesnikov, the armed forces chief of staff, the next day. The moves were widely viewed as "an attempt to purge the Defense Ministry of any senior personnel loyal to Mr. Lebed," according to the New York Times. Seeking to forestall a possible armed mutiny, Russian troops were put on alert in Moscow and other major cities.

Three hours after being forced out of the Kremlin, Lebed told a news conference, "I'm going to set up a political structure to prepare for the coming elections." He called on "comrades in arms, my allies and people I probably do not know - do not do anything abrupt." Lebed was appointed national security adviser after he placed a strong third in the first round of the presidential elections.

That same day, Lebed's bodyguards clashed openly with armed plainclothes interior ministry agents who were carrying surveillance equipment. The agents were detained, disarmed, and released after Lebed gave them a lecture.

Lebed bumped heads frequently with other government officials, including Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and presidential chief of staff Anatoly Chubais. At an October 16 news conference, interior minister Anatoly Kulikov accused Lebed of organizing a 50,000-strong "Russian Legion" to launch a coup. Kulikov said Lebed planned for the new legion to crush internal conflicts in the country, including assassinations of leaders of political parties, independence movements, and others viewed as threats.

"Lebed has decided to move ahead using force instead of waiting for the next presidential poll," said Kulikov, who heads a large force of police and paramilitary units.

Lebed denied the coup allegation, but acknowledged he sent documents to the interior and defense ministries proposing special brigades of 3,000 soldiers in each region, purportedly to form a national guard. Lebed said he was told it could be done by the end of 1999.

Shortly before his dismissal, Lebed had urged Yeltsin to resign. "There is a president and at the same time there is no president," he said September 28. "I would prefer to deal with someone who is temporary yet in charge." Yeltsin had been admitted to the Central Clinical Hospital, where he began undergoing tests September 13. The Russian president has not fully functioned in office since his reelection in July.

Lebed, a former general who oversaw the violent repression of popular uprisings in Georgia and Moldova, warned of a "hot autumn" of growing restlessness from an underpaid and demoralized army. The October 18 Wall Street Journal reported that "a group of officers published a letter in a Russian daily newspaper yesterday saying they were prepared to take radical steps if back wages aren't paid by October 25."

Minister of Defense Gen. Igor Rodionov said hundreds of thousands of soldiers and their families live below the poverty line and more than 110,000 officers do not have housing. "If things go on like this the situation will become intolerable," he asserted.

Demands for payment of back wages are mounting throughout Russia. "Led by militant coal miners, most of the city of Vorkuta went on strike [October 1] to protest at a five-month delay in wages," London's Financial Times reported. Enterprises throughout the country owe some $6.8 billion to workers, and the debt is growing by $500 million every month, according to government figures.

"We had enough for food, we had enough for clothes," Valeri and Galina Novikov told the Christian Science Monitor. "Now we are down to just food." Both workers are owed months in back wages from the Ivanovo Blended Yarn Mill, Ltd.

Meanwhile, as political instability continues to stalk the Kremlin, leaders in Chechnya expressed fears that the ouster of Lebed could signal a new Russian offensive. Lebed negotiated a halt to Yeltsin's bloody war to crush the Chechen independence struggle, which cost some 30,000 lives - mostly civilians. "Everyone is watching the events in Moscow with great alarm," a Chechen fighter remarked. Chechen leaders announced October 19 plans to hold elections on January 27, advancing preparations to form a government.

Speaking of the recent events, U.S. ambassador Thomas Pickering said, "President Yeltsin once again made it clear that, when it comes to the crunch, he will act."

Yeltsin "remains in control even from his sick bed," added a news article in the Wall Street Journal.

A more realistic assessment of the crisis facing the regime was expressed by the Financial Times, which asserted that "today's struggles could prove to be just the dress rehearsal for a far more wrenching showdown."  
 
 
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