"Russia banking problem just beginning"

Russia's banking crisis has only just begun, the chief executive of the country's largest bank says while slamming the government for its "slow reaction". The blunt comments by Sberbank Chief Executive, German Gref, came just two days after Prime Minister; Vladimir Putin said the threat to the banking system had receded. "A banking crisis in Russia is in its very beginning and it will come from the real (non-financial) sector of the economy," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Gref as saying at a conference. "Slow decision making and the weakening of regulatory requirements led to the accumulation of bad debts," said Gref, a former long-serving minister of economic development under Putin. In a speech to Parliament on Monday, Putin unveiled an economic recovery plan saying that a 3 trillion rouble ($90bn) aid package will ensure that Russia comes out of the economic downturn. Mounting economic troubles have cast doubt on the future of the government, whose popularity is largely based on the growth and stability achieved during Putin's eight-year presidency that ended in 2008.