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RAND EXPERT OFFERS FIRST IN-DEPTH PROFILE OF ALEKSANDR LEBED
FINDS LITTLE SIGN OF ANTI-WEST ANIMUS, SUGGESTS U.S. REACH OUT TO HIM
SANTA MONICA, Calif., October 1 -- With Boris Yeltsin in parlous health and his government in limbo, presidential hopeful Aleksandr I. Lebed has entered a new stage in his rocket-like ascent from little known army general to Russia's political heights. As a result, it is important for westerners and Russians alike to go beyond the flamboyant anecdotes and provocative remarks featured in early portrayals of Lebed to understand what he stands for and what his prominence implies for Russia and for East-West relations.
In "The Warrior Who Would Rule Russia," a new RAND report, Russia expert Benjamin S. Lambeth provides the most comprehensive profile of Lebed to date. Copies of a pre-publication draft of the study are already being avidly read by top officials in both the Kremlin and the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
"Lebed has shown little sign of an ingrained animus toward the West that would predispose him to confrontational conduct" and "there is no reason for Washington to assume the worst from his recent rise," Lambeth concludes. All in all, the United States has nothing to lose and perhaps much to gain by reaching out to involve Lebed in an effort to build a mature Russian-American relationship shorn of romantic expectations."
Lambeth began his research, presciently, well before Lebed shot onto the scene as a candidate in the first round of the Russian presidential election last June and as a kingmaker-supporter of Boris Yeltsin in the second round of voting in July. The study was conducted within Project AIR FORCE, the division of RAND that is supported by the U.S. Air Force.