The United States deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, has strongly criticised the way Russia is handling its economic problems.

Speaking at Stanford University in California, Mr Talbott said the current economic crisis in Russia was largely self-inflicted.

The Russian government was operating without either a realistic budget or a credible system for collecting taxes; it was printing out roubles to meet payrolls and keep bankrupt enterprises afloat.

Mr Talbott called on the Russian government to make the difficult structural adjustments that were necessary and warned that economic decline carried with it the danger of political drift, turmoil and even crack-up.

Correspondents say Mr Talbott's remarks reflect Washington's deepening concern with the situation in Russia.