Primakov is expected to tell Michel Camdessus that Russia faces hyperinflation unless it receives the next $4.3 billion tranche of a $22.6 billion loan package agreed in July with the previous cabinet.

But, Russian officials are playing down the chances of the IMF's managing director offering any immediate cash, and Camdessus himself sounded a cautious note on Tuesday.

"I came to get better acquainted with the prime minister and, I presume, have an interesting conversation with him," he told reporters on his arrival at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

He and Primakov then held what Russian news agencies described as an "unofficial meeting" ahead of Wednesday's formal talks, but no further details were available.

Before his talks with Camdessus, Primakov is due to address the Federation Council, Russia'supper chamber of parliament, on his programme. To the IMF's dismay, this includes boosting state control of the economy.

The former spymaster is expected to try to reassure the chamber, which groups powerful regional bosses, that his government has concrete measures for tackling Russia's worst economic crisis since the fall of Soviet communism.

He will also want to avoid giving the impression of bending too far to accommodate the IMF, whose monetarist prescriptions are distrusted by many Russian politicians, especially in the Communist-dominated State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

Primakov, 69, has brought Soviet-era economists into his team and has won Duma backing with talk of more social welfare and help for domestic industry, marking a departure from the rhetoric of previous liberal governments.

In uncharacteristically undiplomatic language last weekend, he hit out at the IMF as "kids who've seen almost nothing in life".

But without IMF help, Primakov has said Russia will have to printmoney to fund its gaping budget deficit and pay off millions of state sector workers, soldiers and pensioners, risking runaway inflation. The country may also end up defaulting on international debt commitments.

Camdessus, a former French central banker, is certainly no "kid" at 65. But he is likely to be unimpressed with the lack of a clear budget plan for 1999 and with plans to cut value-added tax and sales tax.

The government had been expected to discuss its budget plans on Monday but will now do so next week.

A source close to the Kremlin said hopes of an immediate breakthrough at Wednesday's talks were almost nil, but added that Primakov wanted to ensure the IMF chief understood the difficulties Russia faced.

Central bank Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko, who will take part in the talks with Camdessus, said he did not expect any miracles from the visit, which comes a week after the latest IMF mission left Moscow voicing criticism of Primakov's plans.

Camdessus is also due to hold separate meetingswith liberal finance minister Mikhail Zadornov and with first deputy prime minister Yuri Maslyukov, a moderate Communist.

The IMF chief is not scheduled to meet president Boris Yeltsin, who is in hospital ecovering from pneumonia and has handed over the day-to-day running of the country to Primakov.

A Kremlin aide said Yeltsin, 67, was urging doctors to let him out of hospital as soon as possible and may be back at work by next Monday.

The Duma was due to convene on Wednesday to discuss a resolution that would require Yeltsin to undergo a medical examination. A parliamentary commission exploring the grounds for his impeachment will also meet.