'In all, around five trillion rubles (S$275 billion) is to be spent on stabilisation measures,' news agencies quoted Mr Medvedev as saying at a government meeting in the industrial city of Izhevsk.

'But this is also not the final number. We understand perfectly well that the scale of the problem is such that it is possible further measures will need to be undertaken,' he added.

Since Sept the Russian government has pledged close to US$200 billion to ease the effects of the crisis, which has seen Moscow's stock markets lose about two-thirds of their value since May.

Russia has also been hit hard by a plunge in the price of oil, its main export and the key element behind its rapid growth in recent years. -- AFP