Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday unleashed unusually harsh criticism of the Kremlin’s overly centralised system of decision making, indicating the Russian president was dissatisfied with his government’s own crisis management skills after the Georgia crisis and recent financial market turmoil.

Speaking to officials in the eastern province of Kamchatka he said: “It is too bad when all decisions, including those on operational issues, are made by the president. That means we do not have a system of management.”