If the liquidation of Salomon's arbitrage positions was a background factor in the problems of the summer of 1998, the immediate cause of the 1998 crisis was, as noted above, Russia's August 17 default on its ruble-denominated debt. That Russia was in economic trouble was no surprise: what was shocking was that it (unlike previous debtor governments) should default on debt denominated in domestic currency.

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 1035