Strange Oriental leader, unstable Vladimir's mate (8)

I believe the answer is:

estragon

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'vladimir's mate' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'strange oriental leader unstable' is the wordplay.
'leader' indicates taking the first letters.
'unstable' indicates an anagram.
The first letter of 'oriental' is 'o'.
'strange'+'o'='strangeo'
'strangeo' anagrammed gives 'ESTRAGON'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for estragon that I've seen before include "Character of play" , "Waiter" , "Vladimir's fellow-waiter" .)

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