Out of 395 deputies of the 450-strong Russian lower house, 297 lawmakers voted in favour of Stepashin and 55 against.

After the dismissal of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on May 12 as a result of Kremlin intrigues, President Boris Yeltsin had nominated first Vice-Premier and Interior Minister General Stepashin for the top cabinet post.

``I am not General Pinochet, my name is Stepashin. I am not going to resort to emergency steps,'' the prime ministerial candidate declared addressing the deputies before the voting, in an obvious reference to critics who had pointed to his KGB background.

Expressing his commitment to the policy of political and economic stability of his predecessor, Stepashin vowed to back Russian industry and spend more on defence.

He described the NATO operations against Belgrade as ``primarily, astrike against Russia'' and said that his government would spend up to 3.5 percent of GDP on defence.

Stepashin headed straight to talks with Yeltsin on the formation of his government after being confirmed in office.