Lebedev was appointed as an assistant to the head of the educational unit for party political work at the school of anti-aircraft artillery.

[citation needed] In August 1939, Lebedev was appointed head of the political department of the 49th Rifle Corps.

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.

[2] 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.

Lebedev was interviewed by the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, who visited his home in Moscow in 1991.

[citation needed] Andrei Lankov, a Russian scholar and specialist in Korean studies, writes in his book The DPRK Yesterday and Today: An Unofficial History of North Korea about his meeting with Lebedev: "I had a chance to meet with N. G. Lebedev in 1989 and 1990.