Russia's opposition-dominated Duma, the lower house of parliament, failed to muster enough votes yesterday to pass the 1998 draft budget on its fourth and final reading.

Only 187 deputies voted for the draft, well short of the required 226 majority in the 450-member chamber. Eighty deputies rejected it and one abstained. Earlier, deputies rejected all major amendments to the spending plan which the government said were needed to make the budget more realistic.

The Duma has already approved the 1998 draft on three previous readings and had to vote one last time on the document before sending it to the upper chamber and then to President Yeltsin.

But, in his state of the nation address on Tuesday, Mr Yeltsin, who had earlier lobbied for the current draft, suddenly said the Duma must approve a series of amendments, including spending cuts.

But the Duma, dominated by Mr Yeltsin's opponents, threw the amendments out one by one.