Lebed Hints At Tough Talks With Nato

The outspoken former paratroop commander, a strong contender for his countrys presidency should incumbent Boris Yeltsin fail to return to his duties after planned heart surgery later this year, smiled and shrugged his shoulders at a barrage of media questions as he entered the front door of Nato headquarters.

Sporting a crisp, black civilian suit but his military bearing intact, Lebed was welcomed by Nato Secretary-General Javier Solana who is expected to raise proposals to station Russian officers at Nato supreme headquarters to help build confidence.

The Brussels headquarters, a rambling fenced complex of low brick buildings, was the object of scorn in Cold War Soviet media, described variously as a nest of vipers and Lions Den. Lebed says that, while he has disavowed communism, it is NATO that has failed to adapt to the post-Cold War era.

 

Lebed is paying his first visit to the West, where he remains an unknown quantity, familiar largely through his booming parade-ground voice. For many officials here and in NATO capitals he has the same maverick aura as Boris Yeltsin had in the years before he edged Mikhail Gorbachev from the Kremlin.

His comments, rich in imagery, are colourful as they are sometimes contradictory.

These days Yeltsin, currently preparing for heart surgery at a sanatorium outside Moscow, is seen as guardian of continuity. The uncertainty surrounds Lebed, the former 14th Army chief.

Lebed has been vehement in his opposition to alliance plans to incorporate some of Moscows erstwhile Warsaw Pact allies, saying this would be a return to the Cold War spirit. But how much of this is for popular consumption at home is unclear.

The Russian foreign ministry, by contrast, has appeared more conciliatory in recent months. NATO must decide whom to believe.

Lebed hinted on Sunday he would have some blunt words for the alliance, which he once described as behaving like a drunken hooligan over the enlargement plan.

But he gave no details of the proposals for a solution he said he would put to Solana.

In an article published in the Paris-based International Herald Tribune newspaper on Monday, Solana proposed that Russia and NATO station permanent liasion officers in their respective military commands to help build a closer relationship.

Solana said the two sides must build on cooperation in the current peace mission in Bosnia. Why not build on this by having Russian officers permanently at NATO Supreme Command Headquarters and, reciprocally, NATO liaison officers at the Russian General Staff?, he asked.

US defence secretary William Perry proposed last month that the alliance throw open its doors to Russia to help convince Moscow its intentions were not hostile.

Lebed has said on many occasions he would like to take Russias fate into his own hands as president. Among his priorities would be increased funding for the forces which he said recently are on the verge of mutiny because spending cuts.

As well as Solana, Lebed will meet NATO ambassadors on Monday. On Tuesday he is scheduled to visit NATOs military command headquarters in the town of Mons, which is the centre of operations for alliance forces in Bosnia.