At the first meeting of the new Russian Cabinet last week, Primakov was informed of ``the formation of a potentially explosive psychological situation in the military units due to grave material conditions,'' Moscow daily Sevodnya reported, quoting sources in its weekend issue.

``The situation in the armed forces is sliding beyond limit, posing a threat to the existence of the state,'' it said. This information was conveyed to the new premier by the army general staff, the report said. ``If the general staff concedes that the situation in the military is explosive and dangerous, it means it is not sure about its ability to control its subordinates in a non-standard situation,'' it said.

It was only after receiving this information that President Boris Yeltsin,also the supreme commander of the armed forces, had summoned the interior minister General Sergey Stepashin and director of the Federal Security Service General Vladimir Putin last week, the daily said.

According to the Kremlin press service, Yeltsin asked them to ensure strict law and order during the nation-wide protests scheduled on October 7 and not to permit protest actions in the military and naval units. There have been cases of hunger-driven families of army officers in the far-eastern Russia, eating their pets, Sevodnya reported quoting Counter-Intelligence (FSB) community.

According to FSB, the Kremlin is well aware of the moods prevailing among these officers and if their wage arrears were not cleared, they would block Trans-Siberian railway, that links Moscow and the Pacific coast, with their tanks.

``The authorities have set a dangerous precedent by dividing the armed structures on the money-cash principle,'' the paper said. The pay scales in anti-riot police and special purposeunits of the interior ministry were nearly three times more than the armed forces, it added.

Besides, wage and allowance arrears of some armed units and formations, including the border guards, which are not controlled by the defence ministry have already been cleared or are being cleared. ``Naturally, this division of `ours' and `alien' is not to the liking of the army,'' the daily noted and warned that it may have unforeseeable consequences on October 7.

``We already have opposing armed formations to conduct a civil war,'' Sevodnya cautioned.