Maybe dreaded figure, one of the White Russians from the east (5)
I believe the answer is:
rasta
'white russians from the east' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'maybe dreaded figure one of the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rsa' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rasta that I've seen before include "Jamaican cult follower (informally)" , "Jamaican cult member" , "worshipper from Jamaica" , "Sectarian of Jamaican origin (colloq.)" , "worshipper of Haile Selassie" .)