Former Finance Minister of Russia forecasts the global financial crisis to soon evolve into a full-blown economic depression.

“From the viewpoint of recession, which hasn’t started yet, we’re not facing a crisis. Yet from Bickford safety fuse perspective, the financial crisis is in full swing, to be followed by economic depression,” Aleksey Kudrin said.

“There’s a weak chance to settle eurozone state debts, however, in the opposite case, we’ll be facing a serious threat of recession,” RIA Novosti quoted Kudrin as saying.