Just when you thought Putin was history, along comes another po-faced President telling us the recession is all our own fault.

Dimitry Medvedev, addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, suggested that our financial institutions had failed to ensure ‘rational behaviour based on a balanced evaluation of risks and rewards’ . He even attacked the obscene bonuses paid to the banksters who created our current, cash-strapped crisis.

Putting the boot in, Medvedev then had the gall to suggest that there was ‘disappointment with the dollar’ and the that the rouble might be a better reserve currency. Talk about bear faced cheek.

It’s certainly true that predators are currently hovering over all the banks in the City of London. Having lent people six times their salaries on 125% value of their homes suddenly doesn’t seem a great idea. Especially now no-one can pay up.

The run on Northern Rock is being followed by a brisk walk at Halifax and B&B - the latter having the distinction of being ‘rescued’ twice in the last two weeks. Since B&B is committed to buying another poison parcel of sub-prime junk from America’s GMAC, it looks terminal.But, all our own fault? The Brits are having none of it. Britain has always blamed its problems on dark forces and ill-winds from afar. Well, Tony Blair once blamed the doubling of oil prices, a direct result of the Iraq war, on Hurricane Katrina.

So. While British households now have the highest debt ratio in history, the Times identifies the real problems facing our country. Quote:

Britain’s security services have identified Russia as the third most serious threat facing the country, it has emerged before Gordon Brown’s first meeting with President Medvedev.

Security officials say that only al-Qaeda and Iranian nuclear proliferation are greater menaces to the country’s safety than Russia.

The services fear that Russia’s three main intelligence agencies have flooded the country with agents, The Times understands. Vital resources are having to be diverted to deal with industrial espionage by the Russians.

The last line is a particular horse-laugh, given that Britain no longer has any industry. We only have the service sector. But serving Sushi to Russian spies might bring some welcome retail activity to the UK’s deserted high streets.

I’d have liked to get an Al Quaeda spokesperson to comment on the unattributed Times story but, no luck. This major world organisation still doesn’t have an HQ, isn’t in the phone-book and doesn’t have a fax number either. Nor does it bank with Barclays. (A wise choice.) But I did find a comment from Tony Wedgewood Benn, Labour’s longest-serving Member of Parliament. Quote:

‘The average British family has more to fear from repossession than Al-Qaeda.’And, one might add, than from Russia.