Russia ready for world financial crisis: Putin

Moscow, Oct 20 (UNI) Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today said Russia was ready for a world financial crisis.

''I would like to say that we did not allow ourselves to be taken unawares,'' Mr Putin said at the meeting of the government's Advisory Council for Foreign Investment.

''We have taken into account potential threats while building financial and economic policies,'' he added.

He said Russia can fund economic growth mostly from its internal resources and will use its reserve fund to fully compensate for the effects of falling oil prices.

''We can, to a great extent, fund economic growth from our internal resources,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has indicated it was in no hurry to confirm its participation in an international summit called by the US and EU leaders to tackle the global financial crisis.

The apparent reluctance to join other world leaders came as a senior government official said that unlike in the West, there was no crisis in Russia.

A Kremlin spokesman said Russia would only participate in the summit if a convenient date could be agreed upon.

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said few details about the summit have been released, making it too early to say who might represent Russia if it decides to participate.

US President George W Bush on Saturday called for a summit aimed at reforming the international financial system while protecting free markets.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who discussed the summit with Bush at his Camp David retreat on Saturday, suggested holding the summit in New York next month, after the US presidential election on Noveber 4.

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