Yeltsin Sacks Lebed

I can no longer tolerate this situation and I am forced to relieve general Lebed of his position as secretary of the Security Council, Yeltsin said, signing a decree as he spoke.

I have told Lebed to learn to work with other state bodies and leaders...he did not learn his lesson. Lately he allowed himself a number of mistakes which are impermissable in Russias interests.

Yeltsin, who spoke forcefully but looked rigid in an appearance which only showed the top half of his body, brought Lebed into his team after the reserve general scored a strong 15 per cent in the first round of Russias presidential election.

But Lebed has won few friends in the Kremlin and interior minister Anatoly Kulikov on Wednesday ordered security to be tightened across the country on Wednesday after accusing security chief Alexander Lebed of plotting to seize power while President Boris Yeltsin awaits heart surgery.

But Lebed dismissed Kulikovs accusations and added that he was fairly confident thePresident would back him. General Anatoly Kulikov said tougher precautions were needed because of intelligence reports about planned attacks by rebels from breakaway Chechnya, but gave no details of the measures.

Kulikov, Lebeds bitter political foe, had said earlier on Wednesday that Yeltsins security supremo was planning a creeping coup with the aid of Chechen rebels. There cannot even be talk of an attempted coup detat, Lebed told a hastily-called news conference. Nothing will happen...unless Kulikov stirs things up.

Lebed has decided to move ahead using force instead of waiting for the next presidential poll, Kulikov told an earlier news conference. The question is what awaits Russia if Lebed comes to power through a creeping coup. Lebed said he would press charges against Kulikov and said he was sure his rival would be fired over the incident.