``We have agreed on two candidates -- Yuri Maslyukov and Viktor Gerashchenko,'' opposition Communist Party leader Genandy Zyuganov said after talks with Primakov in the State Duma lower house, which votes on his candidacy after 1300 GMT.

Zyuganov told reporters that Maslyukov, a Soviet-era head of central planning, would be his first deputy in charge of the economy. Soviet-era central banker Viktor Gerashchenko would be brought back to head Russia's central bank.

President Boris Yeltsin nominated Primakov, 68, on Thursday after three days of indecision under pressure from the opposition-dominated Duma to avert a showdown which many politicians said could have ended in social upheaval.

As foreign minister since January 1996, Primakov has won the respect of politicians on almost all sides. Dumaparliamentary leaders have indicated they are ready to back him, although some doubt his credentials for ending a deep economic crisis.

Primakov gave no details of his plans after his talks with leaders of party factions in the Duma.

``I cannot say anything about my programme because I only gave my agreement to take up the post yesterday,'' Primakov told reporters.

``I favour maintaining accord among all branches of power and mobilising all forces to pull out of the crisis and keep Russia a united and great state.''

The likely ``yes'' vote on former spy master Primakov would mark a major step in ending the political crisis sparked when Yeltsin abruptly dismissed the government of Sergei Kiriyenko last month.

The Duma twice rejected the president's initial choice, the prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, from 1992 to March this year, whom they blamed for the sorry state of the Russian economy.

A third rejection would have led to the dissolution of the Duma, a early election and more politicalturmoil.

A Primakov government will inherit the economic headaches that followed the rouble's devaluation last month and panic buying that left many store shelves empty. Some staples such as salt and toilet paper have become hard to find.

Primakov, who has worked in the Soviet KGB security service and was head of the Russian foreign intelligence service, said little on Thursday about his economic ideas.

Primakov, who has huge foreign policy experience, is untested in economic policy. He earned a doctorate in economics after an undergraduate education during Stalinist times.

``Primakov is not an economist, so everything will depend on the people he appoints,'' said chief economist Thierry Malleret at Alfa Capital Investment Bank in Moscow.

Some analysts fear for the fate of market reforms if Maslyukov and Gerashchenko were put in charge.

``If these appointments happen I would expect hyper-inflation in Russia,'' deputy director Vladimir Mau of the Institute for the Economy in Transition, said. ``Itdepends on the programme but the danger of a hyper-inflationary programme is very high.''

Primakov's economic team now looks certain to be dramatically different to the young group of government reformers who took over in April.

Gerashchenko headed the Soviet state bank and then the Russian central bank, liberally allowing the printing of money that resulted in hyperinflation in 1992-93.

Maslyukov was a first deputy prime minister in Soviet times and head of Gosplan -- the vast all-powerful body that was supposed to direct the doomed command economy.

He was brought back as trade and industry minister in prime Kiriyenko's shortlived government last July in a gesture to the Communists.

Reaction abroad to Primakov's nomination has been cautious. Washington said it expected ``good and close'' ties with Primakov, who has worked well with secretary of state Madeleine Albright.

France welcomed his nomination as a way to halt the slide into economic chaos. Germany said Yeltsin had told Chancellor HelmutKohl by telephone on Thursday that Primakov would press ahead with reforms.

Japan's foreign minister Masahiko Komura had been due to visit Russia this weekend but Tokyo said on Friday Moscow had asked him to cancel the visit.