Lieut. General Alexander Lebed was once an amateur boxer, and one might pity the opponents who succeeded in hitting him, for his head, with its ridgelike brow and thick, snubbed nose, looks literally, physically hard, almost as if the skin and hair covered marble. Lebed's loud, deep voice also projects extraordinary strength--he can speak in thunderclaps. But when he was interviewed recently in Tiraspol by TIME Moscow bureau chief John Kohan and reporter Yuri Zarakhovich, Lebed's manner was calm even as he denounced the ``windbags'' running the Russian army, proclaimed that the crackdown on Chechnya must have been ordered up by ``dilettantes or madmen'' and mused about running the country himself someday. ``I don't really want to,'' he said, but ``I do not rule out the possibility that I might be forced to it out of necessity.''
Generals in the Russian army don't usually voice such opinions, but Lebed has made a habit of it, and his bluntness about the state of Russia is one reason he has become a rising favorite among nationalists and the military. In a recent survey, some 70% of officers said they would prefer Lebed as Defense Minister instead of Pavel Grachev, who has botched the Chechen war and faces accusations of corruption. Lebed also appeals to centrists who detest both Yeltsin and ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. If he could count on the support of all these groups, Lebed would make a very strong candidate in the presidential election scheduled for June 1996.
Actions as well as words have earned him admiration. During the hard-liners' attempted coup of 1991, for example, he led a paratroop squad that protected Yeltsin's headquarters, the White House. Tiraspol is the capital of Trans-Dniestr, a region of Moldova, one of the former Soviet republics. The inhabitants of Trans-Dniestr are largely Russian and Ukrainian, and for several years they have sought independence from Moldova. Lebed was sent to the region in 1992 to take command of the Fourteenth Army, and he intervened in the conflict between Moldovans and the Russian-speaking population. He has remained in Tiraspol overseeing a wary peace.
Doubts remain about Yeltsin's ability to govern. He embarrassed himself at a summit meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Kazakhstan two weeks ago when he was unable to walk unassisted, but last week he competently delivered a speech to a joint session of the Russian parliament, in which he blamed the military for the heavy losses sustained in Chechnya. Still, his behavior remains erratic, the war continues, and some Russians are looking elsewhere for leadership. When one of Lebed's aides was told that in Moscow the general was spoken of as ``a possible savior of the motherland,'' the aide quickly countered, ``What do you mean, `possible'? It's a fact.''
TIME: How is reform faring in the army?
Lebed: It is up to the state to do it, but there has been nothing but talk and wishful thinking. It's like the tale of the emperor's new clothes. Everyone acted as if the emperor were dressed, until a small boy said he was naked. This is where we stand with reform.
TIME: What will happen if things don't improve?