Russia's hard man warns: I'll be back

He was not sad. His skin was thick enough to withstand the trials and setbacks of politics, he said - even, it seems, by Russia's brutal standards. Alexander Lebed, President Yeltsin's sacked security chief, was showing every sign last night of a politician who was already planning his comeback.

The two-star reserve general and erstwhile head of Russia's Security Council confirmed as much, only hours after President Yeltsin appeared on national television and signed a decree giving his aide his marching orders. An unabashed Mr Lebed said he would now "completely and fully engage in politics", a remark that is tantamount to saying he would continue his quest to succeed the ailing Boris Yeltsin as President.

But the evidence last night was that Mr Lebed may have a longer wait on his hands than expected. Mr Yeltsin looked strong and relatively healthy as he grimly announced the dismissal of Mr Lebed only four months after appointing him Secretary of the Security Council and national security adviser, in a tactical attempt to win over his 11 million voters during the presidential election.

"I can't tolerate the situation any more," said Mr Yeltsin, speaking from his sanatorium outside Moscow, where he is preparing for a multiple bypass operation, while a fresh political crisis grips his nation. The volatility of the situation was reflected by an influx of Interior Ministry police and extra road checks in Moscow.

Mr Yeltsin accused Mr Lebed of lacking team spirit, taking decisions without consulting others, and exhibiting an unwholesome ambition to fill his shoes. "Re-election campaigning will start only in the year 2000," he said.

"There has to be a united team," said Mr Yeltsin, "the team should pull together, work like a fist. But now we have a situation whereby Lebed is splitting the team apart and is carrying out moves which he did not agree with the President. This is totally unacceptable."

The President's performance was an attempt to reassert that he is in charge, after weeks in which there has appeared to have been a power vacuum at the heart of the Kremlin. The most recent outburst came on Wednesday, when General Anatoly Kulikov, the Interior Minister, accused Mr Lebed of plotting to seize control of the country, aided by Chechen rebels and, it seems, a force of 50,000 from a Russian legion he planned to create.

Mr Lebed, who hotly denied the allegations, last night attributed his sacking to a plot by the President's chief-of-staff, Anatoly Chubais, whom he accused of trying to build a regency-style government during Mr Yeltsin's absence. Few dispute Mr Lebed's power has unsettled the Kremlin's elite.

So, too, has his tendency to act as an opposition politician, despite holding high office. Mindful of the unpopularity of Mr Yeltsin's government, he lambasted it over unpaid wages and for failing to support the army. His popularity with the military was reflected yesterday, with reports that members of the 14th Army in Moldova, which he used to command, were planning to come to Moscow in a show of support.

But the most important political fall-out from his departure is likely to be in Chechnya, where he brokered a fragile, but lasting, peace deal in August. Implementing the peace accord now falls to a joint Russian- Chechen commission, although yesterday its future looked bleak. Chechen rebels predicted that it would not last without Mr Lebed, the only Russian they say they can trust.