Fears Of Renewed Chechen War
There are also fears that Lebed may link up with dissidents in the military to stage a coup.
Interior minister Kulikov claimed that Lebed was promised that 1,500 Chechen gun men would help him to power here in Moscow. Lebed has scoffed at such claims.
Lebed had topped Russian opinion polls after he negotiated an end to the bloody Chechen war. Observers say that in opposition he could be a bigger threat to Yeltsin.
Moscow Times commented: Despite the mud thrown at him, he (Lebed) has emerged almost spotless, and were an election called tomorrow, he would be odds-on to win.
The move came one day after hardline interior minister Anatoly Kulikov accused Lebed of trying to mount a creeping coup. On Wednesday Kulikov said that Lebed has decided to move ahead using force instead of waiting for the next presidential election. The power struggle between Kulikov and Lebed has been simmering for months but nobody expected Wednesdays vituperative attack. Kulikov also charged that Lebed was about to raise a 50,000 strong elite force that would report only to him. Kulikov iterated his charges on national television and also alleged that Lebed was sounding out the armed forced to pave the way for a coup.
The ousting of Lebed is interpreted as a victory for a hardline faction in the Kremlin. The jockeying for power has increased in recent months ever since President Yeltsin was ordered rest and went into a sanatorium.
Yeltsins absence from the political arena has turned the entire country jittery about the future. On Tuesday a newspaper reported that Yeltsins haemoglobin count was too low for an operation. The report was later denied.
Analysts say that a lot will depend on Lebeds next moves. One option is that he will have to rejoin the Duma (the Russian Parliament).Observers say his sacking comes as he was building bridges with a rival faction led by Alexander Korzhakov a former presidential bodyguard who was sacked in June.
The possibility of the two men tying up scared other factions.