Moscow - Gen Alexander Lebed, a regional governor in Siberia and a contender for the Russian presidency, said he had considered taking control of his local nuclear missile forces, Interfax news agency said yesterday.
In an open letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Kiriyenko, Gen Lebed was quoted as saying officers at one missile unit in Krasnoyarsk Territory were "hungry and angry" after five months without being paid. He wrote: "I've seriously thought about whether we shouldn't take the unit under the territory's jurisdiction. The officers are hungry, the officers are very angry. After 26 years of army service I know very well how that feels."
"We, the people of Krasnoyarsk, are not yet a rich people," Gen Lebed said. "But in exchange for the status of a nuclear territory, we will, if you like, feed the unit, becoming along with India and Pakistan a headache for the world community."