Putin says U.S. irresponsible in dealing with crisis

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States on Wednesday for what he said was the country's inability to deal with the financial crisis affecting the global economy.

"Everything that is happening in the economic and financial sphere has started in the United States. This is a real crisis that all of us are facing," Putin told a government meeting.

"And what is really sad is that we see an inability to take appropriate decisions. This is no longer irresponsibility on the part of some individuals, but irresponsibility of the whole system, which as you know had pretensions to (global) leadership", he said.