Yeltsin Fires Seven More Top Generals
By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 26 1996; Page A25
The Washington Post
MOSCOW, June 25 -- President Boris Yeltsin dismissed seven high-ranking generals today in a purge of top military echelons that appeared to raise still further the stature of his new national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Alexander Lebed.
The seven sacked generals include four whom Lebed accused last week of plotting to block the dismissal of Defense Minister Pavel Grachev -- an army general who was fired by Yeltsin last Tuesday at Lebed's insistence.
Immediately after Grachev's dismissal, Lebed held a news conference in which he suggested that he had personally foiled what amounted to a coup masterminded by the four generals. The four denied any such intention, and top government officials dismissed Lebed's version of events. Nonetheless, it appeared that Yeltsin's decision to depose so many high-ranking officers close to Grachev could only boost the influence of Lebed -- with whom Grachev has been feuding for years.
As Yeltsin's national security adviser, Lebed has no formal authority over the military, but he already has identified his choice to succeed Grachev as defense minister, and Yeltsin has suggested he will have broad authority to carry out a long-delayed reform of the armed forces.
Lebed also seemed to extend his authority when he played a key role in ousting three old-line Kremlin officials last Thursday after a mysterious episode that appeared to stem from a struggle for influence between rival groups of Yeltsin advisers.
Yeltsin named Lebed to his new job just 36 hours after Lebed's surprisingly strong third-place finish last week in the first round of Russia's hard-fought presidential election. The move was meant to persuade Lebed's 11 million voters to cast their ballots for Yeltsin in the runoff race against Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov on July 3.
Yeltsin today promised a further government shake-up after the runoff. "I am forming a new team, relying on the opinion of voters," he said. "New, authoritative and professional people, like Alexander Lebed, are coming."
The generals dismissed today include the four Lebed named as conspirators last week: Col. Gen. Viktor Barynkin, first deputy chief of the armed forces general staff; Col. Gen. Valery Lapshov, head of Defense Ministry administration; Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shulikov, deputy commander in chief of ground forces for weaponry; and Col. Gen. Dmitri Kharchenko, head of the general staff's international section.
Also sacked were Col. Gen. Anatoly Bogdanov, deputy chief of the general staff; Col. Gen. Vyacheslav Zherebtsov, chief of the general staff's section on mobilization; and Lt. Gen. Sergei Zdorikov, head of the Defense Ministry's education section.
Yeltsin also dismissed two top officials from his powerful Security Council, whose new presiding secretary is Lebed: Vladimir Rubanov, who had close ties to Russia's military-industrial complex, and Alexander Troshin. Both were council deputy secretaries.
© Copyright 1996 The Washington Post Company
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