Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A cikin 1988, Lebed ya zama kwamandan rundunar sojan sama ta 106. Shi da sojojinsa sun shiga cikin murkushe tashin hankali a duk faɗin Soviet Caucasus, a Georgia (1989
) da Azerbaijan (1990), wanda ya ki yin amfani da zalunci don murkushe masu zanga-zangar. A shekarar 1991, Lebed ya rike mukamin Manjo Janar kuma ya zama na biyu a cikin rundunar Sojojin Sama. A lokacin yunkurin juyin mulkin da Soviet ta yi a shekarar 1991 a kan sabuwar gwamnatin Rasha, ya yi suna ta hanyar kin bin umarni don jagorantar dakarunsa a kan Boris Yeltsin a Fadar White House ta Rasha, wanda ya ba da gudummawa ga rushewar juyin mulkin. A wannan lokacin ne kuma Lebed ya zama abokin hamayyar Janar Pavel Grachev, kwamandan Sojojin Sama da kuma Ministan Tsaro na Rasha na gaba, saboda abin da Lebed ya ɗauka a matsayin sake fasalin soja mara kyau. Ta haka ne Grachev zai zama babban abokin hamayyarsa. An bayar da rahoton cewa saboda Grachev ne Lebed ya sami kansa a Moldova a 1992, a matsayin kwamandan Sojojin Tsaro na 14. A can, a cikin rikici tsakanin ɓangarorin Rasha da Romania, ya shiga tsakani kuma ya yi amfani da matsayinsa don sasanta yarjejeniyar zaman lafiya, yana kuma ba da kariya ga 'yan asalin Rasha. Duk da wannan, Lebed ya kasance mai adawa da jagorancin 'yan tawaye, wanda ya ɗauka a matsayin mai cin hanci da rashawa kuma ya bayyana cewa ya "rashin lafiya da gajiya da kiyaye bacci da amincin' yan damfara". Duk da haka, ya ci gaba da adawa da shawarar Shugaba Boris Yeltsin na janye yawancin Sojoji na 14 daga Moldova, saboda yana tsoron hakan zai dawo da rikici a yankin.