Governor dies in Russian helicopter crash

Alexander Lebed, the governor of the Krasnoyarsk territory and a former presidential candidate, died today when his helicopter crashed after hitting a power line, Russian emergency officials said.

Lebed, a former army general, died in hospital where he was taken after the Mi-8 helicopter crashed near the town of Abakan this morning, Russian television reported.

There were 19 people, including a three-member crew, aboard the helicopter when it crashed, the Emergency Situations Ministry in Moscow said.

Seven, including Lebed, died, and 12 were in hospital in a critical condition, the ministry duty officer said.

Several journalists and the region’s deputy governor Nadezhda Kolba were among those killed in the crash. The helicopter was taking Lebed to the opening of a new high-mountain ski trail, NTV television reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to the families of all those who died, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

The helicopter came down outside Abakan, about 2,100 miles east of Moscow, after it struck an electric power line in conditions of poor visibility, the Interfax news agency said.

Lebed, 52, governed the huge Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, and was considered a key regional leader.

In 1995, after a dispute with the Russian defence minister, Lebed was forced to retire from the military after a 25-year career. He turned to politics and was elected to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma. He ran for president in 1996, and came in third, pulling 15% of the vote in the election won by the incumbent Boris Yeltsin.

Lebed, while briefly serving as the head of Yeltsin’s security council, was credited with brokering an end to Moscow’s 1994-96 war in Chechnya.