LEBED REFUSES TO RESIGN.

Saying that he was “swimming in sulfuric acid” andacknowledging that he was being “insubordinate,” Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebedtold a May 12 press conference that he would not resign, Basarpress reported.Lebed said his departure, demanded by Russian defense minister Grachev, wouldspark a new war. He scored Russia’s military command, arguing that “Russiawill not manage to survive a third world war. In fact, we already have not acountry but rather a large democratic hole.”

The Orgins Of The Chechen War.