Considered by many to be Russia's Colin Powell, Lebed is a former Red Army General and Afghan War hero. He is now a popular politican and was once considered a likely successor in the Russian presidency to Boris Yeltsin.
Lebed says he is no longer a Communist, but unlike other former party members who expediently wrapped themselves in the patriotism of the Russian Orthodox Church, he says he remains an atheist.
--from a October 13, 1995 profile written by Alessandra Stanley for the New York Times.