User:SecretName101/sandbox/Alexander Lebed presidential campaign, 1996

Campaigning
Lebed first declared his candidacy as early as December 28, 1995.

Crime
Lebed was highly critical of crime and corruption.

Ceasefire
Lebed was immediately opposed to the ceasefire which Yeltsin had signed near the end of March. In an April 3 article he wrote in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Lebed accused President Yeltsin of "betraying" the soldiers in Chechnya. He criticized Yeltsin for bad judgement in launching a recent wave of attacks, in which "hundreds" of Russian troops were killed, only to sign a ceasefire mere days later. He urged Yeltsin to instead continue battling for a military victory, proclaiming to believe one to be "very close." Lebed further wrote, "Doubts can exist only before the beginning of a war...We are fighting not so much for a specific territory but for Russia's national dignity. Russia must announce to the world that it will never again retreat."