3rd-Place Finisher in Vote Joins Yeltsin Government

President Boris N. Yeltsin grabbed for the tail of political comet Alexander I. Lebed on Tuesday by making the popular retired general his national security chief in an effort to boost his own reelection chances in next month’s presidential runoff.

Yeltsin also sacked Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev as part of the deal to secure Lebed’s alliance and endorsement, abandoning a loyal ally but removing the most hated figure in the Kremlin.

Lebed finished a surprisingly strong third in Sunday’s 10-man race for the presidency, acquiring the mantle of kingmaker for the second round of balloting that will pit Yeltsin against Communist Party challenger Gennady A. Zyuganov.

By bringing the 46-year-old Lebed into the power structure between rounds, Yeltsin hopes to gain the support of many of those voters who gave the decorated war hero 15% of the ballots cast Sunday.

Lebed dismissed suggestions that his followers would feel betrayed by his siding with Yeltsin. He said he was simply fulfilling campaign promises to create law and order in the only way left to him: aligning with the man who is in power and likely to stay there.

“Eleven million people trusted me and believe that I can restore order and ensure security. I am an officer, and I have to fulfill that mandate,” Lebed told journalists after his appointment as chairman of the Security Council.

“The people have made their choices. There are only two candidates left for the final race, and everyone must draw his own conclusions,” Lebed said gruffly. He noted it would be “politically fatal” to carry on in an adversarial position toward the government now that he has been edged out of the presidential contest.

Yeltsin appears to be grooming Lebed as a potential successor. When announcing the Security Council appointment, he was asked by journalists if Lebed could now be seen as Kremlin crown prince.

“You are thinking correctly,” the 65-year-old president replied, adding, “But it is too early to speak about this.”

Yeltsin, who has recurring health problems and suffered two heart attacks last year, has never designated an heir apparent.

A date for the decisive second round is expected to be announced soon after publication today of the official results of Sunday’s voting. Yeltsin has proposed July 3 and has urged the Duma, the lower house of parliament, to declare the day a holiday to ensure a large turnout.

Yeltsin had only a slim 3-percentage-point advantage over Zyuganov in the first-round voting, stirring worries within the Kremlin camp that a poor turnout could cost the incumbent reelection. The first round drew an impressive 69% turnout, but many Russians start vacations in early July.

Lebed on Tuesday estimated that as many as 80% of those who supported him in the first round could be persuaded to vote for Yeltsin now. But independent analysts call that forecast exaggerated, and many people may simply decide not to vote.

Pollster Yuri A. Levada of the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion said he doubts that more than 40% of those who supported Lebed will vote for Yeltsin.

Zyuganov reacted to the news of the alliance with disdain, claiming that he will inherit the support of those Lebed voters for whom the political marriage of convenience is unacceptable.

Lebed, meanwhile, intimated that Grachev had not left office quietly, even suggesting that he had vainly attempted to organize a coup.

No new defense minister has been named yet, and Lebed made clear that that appointment and other important personnel decisions will be up to him. Speculation about the top military job has centered on Gen. Boris V. Gromov, a former commander of Soviet troops in Afghanistan and a strong Yeltsin campaigner.

Grachev came to Yeltsin’s rescue during the 1993 showdown with hard-line Communist opponents, but he had become a political liability for the Kremlin chief more recently because of his disastrous prosecution of the war against rebel Chechnya and of widespread corruption in the military hierarchy.

Grachev is known among the troops as “Pasha Mercedes” for the high-rolling lifestyle he has openly enjoyed despite a meager government salary.

* RUSSIA’S CRIME-BUSTER: Ex-general’s move into government seen as hopeful sign. A4