In 1924, he graduated from the Higher Military Pedagogical School and in the same year, he was appointed as a teacher of social studies at the
Tver Cavalry School of the Comintern named after
Leon Trotsky. In December 1927, he completed his post-graduate courses in social studies. Lebedev was appointed as an assistant to the head of the educational unit for party political work at the school of
anti-aircraft artillery. In March 1934, he was appointed as the
political commissar to the commander of the 45th Artillery Regiment. In November 1936, Lebedev was appointed as the head of the propaganda, agitation and press department of the political department of the
Kiev Military District. From 1939, he served as the head of the Military-Political School at the Kiev Military District. In August 1939, Lebedev was appointed head of the political department of the 49th Rifle Corps. As part of this unit, he participated in the
Soviet invasion of Poland and the
Winter War. For this, he received the
Order of Lenin. In 1940, Lebedev was promoted to brigade commissar. (left) and Lebedev On 15 June 1941, he was appointed a member of the Military Council of the
25th Army. Following the outbreak of
Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Lebedev was promoted to major general in 1942. In 1944, he was awarded the
Order of the Red Star for good combat and political training of military units transferred from the 25th Army to the
Western Front. In August 1945, Lebedev was one of the commanders of military operations of the 25th Army of the
Far Eastern Front during the
Soviet-Japanese War, which led to the
liberation of the Korean Peninsula from
Japanese rule. Following the liberation of
Korean Peninsula and the subsequent Soviet occupation of the northern part of Korean Peninsula, Lebedev was appointed as the head of the Soviet Civil Administration. He was in charge of carrying out the instructions from the top officials, such as
Terenty Shtykov in
Pyongyang. During his time as the head of Soviet civil administration in Korea, Lebedev directed several political initiatives to make
Kim Il Sung, who was an unknown person at home, the
leader of North Korea. Il-Sung Park, who taught
Marxist-Leninist ideology to Kim at that time, testified that Lebedev was the first person to initiate the idolization and
cult of personality of Kim Il Sung. For his efforts, Lebedev is considered as one of the founders of the
Workers' Party of Korea. On 10 September 1948, he returned to the Soviet Union after the official establishment of the North Korean government. Kim invited him to North Korea every year since then. Following his return to Soviet Union, Lebedev served as the deputy commander for political affairs of the
Don Military District from August 1949 to July 1950. He served in numerous positions and assignments until his retirement from the military in 1966. ==Later life==