LEBED CALLS OFF PEACE TALKS WITH CHECHEN LEADER.

Byline: The New York Times

Saying he could not possibly bring peace to Chechnya when so many people in Moscow ``want to torpedo the process,'' Russian national security adviser Alexander Lebed on Sunday abruptly canceled his most important negotiating session yet and returned home to fight new battles in the Kremlin.

Lebed had fully expected to reach a final agreement Sunday afternoon on Chechnya's relationship with Russia - the crux of the 20-month war here. But as his helicopter was preparing to leave for Novye Atagi, the site of the meetings, he announced he would not attend them.

Late Saturday night, his aides and those of his Chechen counterpart, Aslan Maskhadov, said that an ``agreement was nearly certain,'' and that they expected Sunday to be ``a historic day for Russia.''

Instead, it was another day of recriminations.

Lebed, as he has done before, accused unnamed enemies in Moscow of trying to prevent him from making the compromises necessary to end the war. He said he would try to meet with President Boris Yeltsin today. Yeltsin has not seen Lebed for more than two weeks, since he granted him wide powers to resolve the hostilities with the Chechens.

The rebels seek independence for their republic, one of scores of such regions in the Russian Federation.

Asked how long it would now take before he could hope to have a signed peace treaty in hand, Lebed shrugged and said, ``Ask me something easier.''

There are many in Moscow who oppose Lebed, and they oppose him for many reasons.

Some object to what they see as the retired army general's quick capitulation to the rebels, his willingness to withdraw Russian troops and his nearly overt admission that Russia has lost this war.

Others fear that Lebed, if he is given credit for ending the seemingly insoluble conflict, will become a likely successor to Yeltsin, who is frail and is rarely seen in public these days.

Lebed promised to return to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, later this week. Before leaving Khankala, the Russian military base here where he spent the night, he issued a statement to the Chechen people promising them peace ``on the ancient Chechen land.''

He reminded them that he was in full command of the Russian forces stationed here, and declared that the latest cease-fire would not be broken.