MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - Russia was prepared for a world financial crisis, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

"I would like to say that we did not allow ourselves to be taken unawares," Putin told the government's Consultative Council for Foreign Investment on Monday.

As Russia was organizing its economy and financial system, it "was thinking about potential risks and potential threats," he said. "We were criticized for excessive conservatism, but it has proved justified," Putin said.

The prime minister said that the current meeting was being held at a time "when the world financial system and the world financial order are experiencing serious systemic setbacks." "It would be wrong and strange not to speak about this," he said.

The current financial crisis is the largest one since the great depression hit the United States in the 1930s, Putin said. "Events of that scope are making us cast a new look at the world financial system and to try and find the causes and set tasks for the future in a more precise and better weighed way," he said.

"The current crisis demonstrated the inconsistency of all basic elements of the system of regulating financial markets," Putin continued. "American, European and British structures, for all the differences in their organization and work, were equally taken unawares. Rating agencies, the Basel Committee and the International Monetary Fund demonstrated unreadiness to deal with the crisis, too," he said.

In this situation, all governments are expected to make "consistent and clear steps," Putin said.

The prime minister acknowledged that the current problems in the world economy have also affected Russia, which ranks among the top four countries in terms of influence on the growth of global GDP.

"The Russian government is looking for answers to these global challenges, and is finding them," said Putin.