Government officials said president Yeltsin nominated Primakov after Viktor Chernomyrdin asked the president not to nominate him as prime minister for a third time.

``I cannot harm Russia. Russia has had enough upheavals this century. This is my choice,'' Chernomyrdin said.

President Yeltsin decided to nominate Primakov after meeting him and Chernomyrdin at the Kremlin.

The Communist-dominated lower chamber of parliament -- the state Duma -- had already indicated it would agree to Primakov as premier. Yeltsin and the Duma have been locked in a bitter two-week battle that stalled the formation of a new government after Chernomyrdin was rejected twice.

Primakov, 68, a former soviet foreign policy expert, is seen as a technocrat, not ideologically linked to any political faction.He has been criticised in the west for taking a less liberal line on foreign relations.

He was named foreign minister in January 1996 and has been praised by most of Russia's political factions for doing a good job.

But while Primakov was expected to be approved, it was not clear if he would be able to do much to fix the country's economic crisis. Although seen as a competent administrator, his field of expertise is foreign relations, not economic policy.

In December 1991, he was named head of the Russian foreign intelligence service after years of working in Soviet government agencies and political think-tanks. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev picked him as one of his closest aides during the reform period of the 1980s.

In 1989-1990, he worked as a speaker of one of the Houses of the Soviet parliament.

He became Gorbachev's special advisor for foreign policy issues and in 1991 became widely known in the west for his efforts to avert a Gulf war by direct negotiations with SaddamHussein.

Unlike most of Gorbachev's allies, he managed to remain in the government after the Soviet collapse and has worked closely with Yeltsin in recent years.

Yeltsin had been urged by political leaders on all sides to agree to a compromise candidate and not propose Chernomyrdin for the third and final vote. Russia endured a frenzy of political speculation during the past two days as Yeltsin considered his options.

The political stalemate has exacerbated Russia's economic collapse, reflected in rising prices and a spread of emergency measures, such as price controls, in some regions of the country.

Surprisingly, however, the country's tattered currency, the rouble, continued to bounce back today. The rouble, which was selling at about 20 to the US dollar on Tuesday, rose in street sales to as strong as 10 to the dollar, although rates varied widely.

Foreign currency dealers said the improved rate suggested that people had exhausted their rouble supply in panic buying and had begun to exchangetheir dollar savings.

The lack of roubles sent the currency's value up and added a new dimension to people's worries.

``I've been trying in the last few days to buy more,'' said 25-year-old Dmitry, a police officer who wouldn't give his last name. ``But I can't change my money at a bank because there aren't any roubles.''

Some stores in Moscow were restocking shelves and people seemed less worried about food shortages.

``I'm buying but I haven't been in panic. We see people hoarding, but we don't do it. There's no reason for it, you can't buy for your entire life,'' said Tatyana Shishkova, 57, a retired teacher.

The Duma had twice rejected Chernomyrdin. If it rejects Yeltsin's nominee a third time, the president would be forced by law to dissolve parliament and call new elections.

Chernomyrdin spent five years as prime minister before Yeltsin fired him last March, and many Russians blame him for the country's economic problems. Yeltsin brought him back as acting prime minister last month afterfiring Sergei Kiriyenko.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov warned that the Duma would begin immediate impeachment proceedings against Yeltsin if he had nominated Chernomyrdin a third time. A vote to start impeachment proceedings blocks Yeltsin from dissolving the Duma, although it was not clear if the Opposition has enough votes to get such a motion passed.