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MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian investigators
are sifting through wreckage to find the cause of a helicopter
crash in which maverick soldier-turned-politician Alexander Lebed
died.
One of Russia's most well-known public figures and the governor
of the Krasnoyarsk region, Lebed died along with seven others
when the Mi-8 helicopter they were travelling in crashed into
a snowy Siberian hillside at the weekend.
Air crash investigators are studying the aircraft's voice and
data recorders after they were discovered earlier Monday.
Technical problems have already been ruled out by Emergency Situations
Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Thick fog concealing a frost-covered power line is thought to
be the most likely explanation for Sunday's crash near the town
of Abakan in Lebed's vast Krasnoyarsk region, Russian news reports
said.
Twelve other passengers survived the crash and are receiving
hospital treatment.
The 52-year-old former army general, who helped defeat the 1991
hard-line Soviet coup against then president Mikhail Gorbachev
and came in third in Russia's 1996 presidential elections, was
one of Russia's most prominent politicians in the 1990s, gaining
respect for his strong individual stance on thorny issues.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a moment of silence in
honour of Lebed at a meeting in Moscow on Monday, calling the
governor a "comrade" and "one of Russia's most
striking politicians."
Thousands of people went to a concert hall in Krasnoyarsk where
his coffin was on display to pay their respects, Russian news
reports said. His body is to be moved to Moscow on Tuesday.
One of the survivors, Stanislav Smirnov, a cameraman for local
Channel 7 television, was quoted by The Associated Press as telling
NTV from his hospital bed: "There was the impression that
the trees were just under our wheels.
"Then the nose cracked and we went down. That's all I remember."
Three journalists and the region's deputy governor were among
those killed. The helicopter was taking Lebed to the opening of
a new downhill ski trail about 3,400 kilometres (2,100 miles)
east of Moscow.
He will be buried at Moscow's elite Novodevichy Cemetery, which
is reserved for Russia's top politicians and most beloved cultural
figures, though no date for the funeral has been announced.
After his 1996 presidential bid Lebed served as the head of then-President
Boris Yeltsin's security council and was credited with brokering
an end to Moscow's 1994-96 war in Chechnya. He was elected governor
of Krasnoyarsk in 1998.
See also:
the original at
http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/29/lebed.investigation/index.html
Russian Soldier-Politician Lebed
Dies in Air Crash. Reuters, April 28, 2002 | 