FORMER army general, Mr Alexander Lebed, launched an offensive against the Kremlin yesterday by rallying his political troops to form a party he hopes will propel him to the presidency.
Some 146 delegates from movements which support Mr Lebed gathered in Golitsino, west of Moscow, to announce formally the setting up of the Russian Republican People's Party (RRPP).
"We shall unite those who share our convictions and are disappointed both in the communists and in the democrats," Mr Lebed said in an interview yesterday with the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The new grouping is expected to aid Mr Lebed, who has practically sunk into oblivion since October after enjoying a political high as head of Russia's powerful security council and chief mediator in the Chechen conflict.
Earlier this year the former general forced media and political attention when he came third in the first round of June presidential polls and later concluded a landmark peace agreement with Chechen rebels in August.
But his abrasive, loose cannon style and openly stated ambition to succeed Mr Boris Yeltsin as Russian president earned him few allies within the Kremlin. In October he was openly disavowed by Mr Yeltsin and sacked from his two Kremlin posts.
Undeterred by his foes, the former hero of the war in Afghanistan said yesterday that more than 86,000 people from 72 regions across Russia had already joined the party.
Asked who his supporters were, he listed them: "The heads of small, mid sized or big companies, the poorer factions of the population, part of the communist party's current electorate ... the soldiers who are tired of hearing fairytales on military reform, employees in the military industry, miners."
Mr Lebed said the party advocated a "state of law, truly democratic."
After yesterday's meeting, discussions are to begin in the Russian regions to name the party's leaders, and regional structures will be set up, he said. In March a congress will take place during which the party programme will be approved. Mr Lebed is expected to take over the party presidency.
The former general said the RRPP would take part in presidential elections scheduled for the year 2000, "whether it takes place on time or earlier than scheduled."
He has repeatedly said he believes the pills will take place earlier than planned, claiming that Mr Yeltsin, who recently returned to the Kremlin after a six month absence for heart surgery, was too ill to govern.
On Sunday, Mr Lebed called on the Russian leader, who was re elected in July for a second four year mandate, to resign.
"The president is too ill to run the country. It is time for him to resign and go and rest," he said in a radio interview.
Yesterday he reiterated calls for Mr Yeltsin's resignation.
"I know without a doubt that Boris Yeltsin is a very sick man. His return to presidential work puts his life in danger, and an active way of life is not a good thing for him now," he told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
In particularly outspoken terms he warned the Russian leader not to "transform a personal health drama into a tragedy for the whole country."
During the Golitsino meeting the retired general also called on Mr Yeltsin to make constitutional changes to reduce the powers of the presidency.
"Interior politics and social and economic management must be handed to the government, which will have to refer to the lower house of parliament and which will be set up according to the results of legislative polls," he said.
He added, however, that the president should keep his "official status of political head of the nation."
. Two airforce pilots hoping to become the first Chinese in space have been training near Moscow for the past month for a space mission planned by Beijing in 1999. Wu Jie and Li Qinglung are to remain at the Gagarin center in Star City, a complex for training cosmonauts near Moscow, until mid 1997.