Alexander Ivanovich Lebed

Soviet Union Soviet communism 1950–2002 ○ Killed in crash

The airborne deputy commander who, sent against the White House, switched sides and helped break the August coup

On the night of 20 August 1991, with Grachev's consent, Lebed returned to the White House and secretly told the defenders: 'The assault will begin at 2:00 AM.'

Born into poverty in Novocherkassk, the son of a carpenter who had spent years in the Gulag, he witnessed the Novocherkassk massacre at age twelve and became a Soviet airborne forces general. He served as a battalion commander in Afghanistan and was appointed deputy commander of the Airborne Forces for combat training in February 1991. On the first day of the August coup he led Tula paratroopers to surround the White House on Pavel Grachev's orders, but switched to Yeltsin's side the next day and secretly informed the defenders of the planned 2:00 AM assault, a defection that helped break the coup. After retiring from the army he placed third in the 1996 presidential election, negotiated an end to the First Chechen War as Secretary of the Security Council, and was governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai when he died in a helicopter crash.