[citation needed] From 1993 to 1999, he was the founder of the commercial company Legteh LLC, later became the chairman of the board of OJSC "Leather haberdashery factory Prestige-Inter" (Chernivtsi).

[citation needed] The group also included Crimean groups Parangon (construction) and Gala Motors (foreign modes trade), shopping malls in Chernivtsi, dentist's in Kyiv, agrofirm Azalia in Simferopol, five-star hotel complex Akvamarin, water park Zurbagan, enterprises of catering in Sevastopol.

[citation needed] In a position of Minister of Defense of Ukraine, during the political crisis in Ukraine and protest actions at the 2013/2014 Euromaidan, after numerous pleas of politicians with an appeal to bring the army to protect the constitutional order, Lebedyev refused to bring the troops, on 26 January stating that the Ukrainian army would not interfere in the confrontation between the acting power and opposition.

[citation needed] During the 2014 Ukrainian revolution on 19 February Lebedyev sent to Kyiv the 25th Separate Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade by his order in the framework of the anti-terrorist operation of SSU to strengthen the protection of military arsenals and prevent theft of weapons and ammunition.

On 21 February 2014, the day when the "Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine" was struck during the Euromaidan demonstrations, Lebedyev left Kyiv and moved to Sevastopol.

[7] On 27 February 2014 parliament officially dismissed Lebedyev, appointing in his place acting Minister of Defense Ihor Tenyukh.

[17] 14 March 2016, he was placed on the wanted list by the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine on suspicion of criminal activities and desertion.

[8][7] On 14 October 2015, Lebedev joined the collegial governing body of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE).

[7] On 16 October 2015, he was elected as the head of the coordinating council of the Crimean branches of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.