"We are entering or have already entered a full-blown economic
crisis, and we're going to feel it to the full next year,'' said Alexei
Kudrin.
His warning came as Russia's central bank lent Trust Bank 30bn roubles (£339m) to stop it going bankrupt.
Russia's former finance minister has warned the country is entering a
"full blown economic crisis" and will enter recession next year.
It marks Russia's first bank bailout since the rouble's sharp collapse.
The Russian currency has lost more than 45% of its value
against the dollar since the start of the year, with falling oil prices
and Western sanctions both weighing on the country.
Despite the sharp fall, deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov
indicated the government would not intervene, saying it "opposes''
currency controls as a way to tackle the rouble crisis, and saw "more
harm in them'' than potential advantages.
'Serious challenge'
Russia's central bank has already tried unsuccessfully to
stabilise the currency, buying roubles in the markets and raising its
main lending rate to 10.5%.
But those efforts have been overwhelmed by the fall in the
price of crude oil - one of the country's main exports - and by concerns
that international sanctions over Ukraine might be stepped up.
On Monday, Mr Kudrin said that even if the price of oil,
currently trading at around $62 a barrel, rose to $80 a barrel the
Russian economy would still contract by at least 2%. If oil remained at
around its current level he said the economy would shrink by 4%.
"This is a serious challenge to the economy," he said.
He calculated that low oil prices accounted for as little as a
quarter of the rouble's decline, with western sanctions against Russia
accounting for 40%.
The Russian government warned earlier this month that the
country would fall into recession next year as western sanctions and
falling oil prices began to bite.
Its economic development ministry estimated the economy would
contract by 0.8% next year, compared to its previous estimate of 1.2%
growth.
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