It was led by Prime Minister Sergey Kiriyenko, appointed acting Prime Minister on March 23 and proposed to the State Duma for approvement on March 27, 1998.

According to the Constitution of Russia, if the State Duma rejects the President's nomination three times, it must be dissolved and a parliamentary election held.

According to the Russian legislation, the ministers were appointed by the President.

On August 23, 1998, Yeltsin sacked the government after the 1998 Russian financial crisis had taken a dramatic turn on August 17, replaced Kiriyenko with Viktor Chernomyrdin as acting Prime Minister, although he had been neither a deputy nor even a member of the cabinet of Kiriyenko as required by law, and reappointed all the other ministers as acting ministers.

Fourteen ministers survived the reshuffle (see Yevgeny Primakov's Cabinet).