DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called the international economic crisis a "perfect storm" event and warned that a conflict could erupt out of the turmoil.
"There is the notion of the 'perfect storm' when natural elements come to a single point and multiply their destructive capacity. This crisis looks exactly like this perfect storm," Putin said in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Putin took aim at US banks and the outgoing US administration in his analysis of the causes of the crisis.
"Although the crisis was simply hanging in the air, the majority strove to get their share of the pie, be it one dollar or one billion, and did not want to notice the rising wave."
Putin said there had been a lot of criticism of the United States in recent months "but I will do nothing of the kind.
"I just want to remind you that just a year ago, American delegates speaking from this rostrum emphasised the US economy's fundamental stability and its cloudless prospects," he said referring to a Davos speech last year by Condoleezza Rice who was then secretary of state.
"Today investment banks, the pride of Wall Street, have virtually ceased to exist. In just 12 months they have posted losses exceeding the profits they made in the last 25 years. This example alone reflects the real situation better than any criticism."
Putin called for a constructive attitude from new US President Barack Obama in international affairs. "We wish the new team success. I hope they are willing to cooperate constructively," he said.
Putin also said that a group or country could take advantage of the economic crisis to spark a conflict.
"We all know that provoking military and political instability, regional and other conflicts is a helpful means of distracting the public from growing social and economic problems. Such attempts cannot be ruled out, unfortunately," the Russian leader said.
Putin blamed the failure of "multilateral political mechanisms" to end conflicts such as the Russia-Georgia war last year -- which he called "Georgia's adventurous sortie in the Caucasus" -- the India bomb attacks and the Gaza war this year.
And he also said a new international legal framework was need to guarantee energy security. After a dispute with Ukraine which badly hit supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe, he said new pipelines had to be built to diversify supply lines.
Putin said Russia wanted to build a new gas pipeline to the Pacific and China, parallel to a new oil pipeline to Russia's Far East coast.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
