Mr Yevgeny Primakov's efforts to form a new cabinet hit bumpy ground yesterday when a centrist deputy said he could hardly help Russia in its current predicament and pulled out of government.
Mr Vladimir Ryzhkov (32), a rising star in parliament and a popular member of the Our Home Is Russia (NDR) faction, resigned from the post of deputy premier in charge of social affairs three days after winning the post.
Mr Ryzhkov said he took the job but then began agonising over his assignment before conceding that only a better politician than he could help resolve a crisis surrounding the prompt payments of wages and pensions.
"I did not sleep. I lost my appetite," said Mr Ryzhkov of his reaction to learning that Mr Primakov wanted him to untie the messy Russian social knot.
Mr Primakov, a career diplomat and former foreign minister, conceded that crafting a coalition government at a time of economic crisis was a messy affair.
"Some of these problems involve parties that support me as Prime Minister but then refuse to participate in the government."
The left opposition, led by the resurgent Communist Party, last week voted for Mr Primakov on condition that he include opposition deputies in his cabinet and turn the economy around before the winter.
Mr Primakov has already fulfilled one demand - Communists occupy the top two posts in his new cabinet, while a Soviet-era banker with a penchant for printing money is now in charge of the Central Bank.
Currency printing presses will go into motion soon to help pay wage arrears and recharge the nation's sinking banking sector, new bank chief, Mr Viktor Gerashchenko, has promised.
The Communists have not, however, cancelled their national strikes, scheduled for October 7th. They plan to march under slogans for President Boris Yeltsin to resign, but Mr Primakov is well aware that the government could also face similar calls if it fails to impress.
Russia's armed forces are now so hard up they could soon lose their ability to defend the country, the leading article in the defence ministry's official daily stated yesterday.
"What fascist troops failed to do 50 or so years ago, a little group of modest accountants has managed quite easily," said Krasnaya Zvezda ("Red Star").