Three specialists on the Russian economy, who work at Alfa Bank in Moscow, analyze the factors that brought about the crisis of August 1998. Focus is on both longterm and short-term, exogenous and endogenous causes, and the interaction among them. Data are presented on the structure of, and trends in, the Russian stock market, treasury-bill and bond yields, federal budgetary allocations, the price of exports, tax collection, and government debt and arrears. The article concludes with a case study of governmental decision-making in the weeks leading up to the decisions to devalue and default.