The one at the front is a Russian (4)
I believe the answer is:
ivan
'russian' is the definition.
(common Russian name)
'the one at the front' is the wordplay.
'the one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'the front' becomes 'van' (I've seen this in other clues).
'i'+'van'='IVAN'
'is a' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ivan that I've seen before include "his progress in history was terrible!" , "Fellow" , "Russian ruler - a Terrible one" , "Tsar - 197> the Terrible" , "Russian, say" .)