"I do not know if there is a ground for the rumors," Lebed, the general in charge of the 14th Army in Moldova, told Interfax on Sunday. "Moscow is a better judge."
In another interview Saturday with Segodnya, Lebed said he had not been consulted about the projected visit by Deputy Defense Minister Konstantin Kobets to his headquarters in Tiraspol later this week.
Lebed said the official reason for the visit was to discuss manning, reorganization and readiness of the 14th Army.
Lebed said he was not worried by rumors of being fired but he again insisted that the 14th Army could not withdraw from the Transdnestr region of Moldova, where it is stationed.
"Any tough action against the army will mean that the label 14th Army is taken away while the army stays," Lebed said.
Stanislav Terekhov, leader of the renegade Officers' Union, which has links to extreme nationalists, accused Lebed on Monday of plotting for power.
"Lebed is using forces in the second tier of democrats to replace Grachev as defense minister," Terekhov said, referring to liberal politicians in the Russia's Choice group.
"He has said 20 times openly and clearly things for which other people would have lost their jobs or been imprisoned."
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