"The Central Bank will place funds on Vnesheconombank's deposits to equal the amount of loans extended by it," Putin said.
Vnesheconombank (Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs) was established by the Russian government last year as the national development bank, with the aim of modernizing and diversifying the Russian economy and improving its economic competitiveness.
Putin said it had become difficult for Russian companies to prolong previous loans or obtain new ones as global financial woes prompted by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and banking defaults continued to persist.
Amid global financial troubles, Russian stocks plummeted on September 17 to their lowest level in nearly three years, prompting trading to be suspended for two days on the RTS and MICEX exchanges.
The market rebounded on September 19 after the government took urgent measures to pump billions of dollars into the financial sector to shore up liquidity.
Putin said Vnesheconombank should lend to Russian banks at market rates.
"Any Russian bank or company will be able to turn to Vnesheconombank for credit to repay debts to foreign lenders on loans obtained before September 25 this year. Loan terms, of course, should be based on market principles," Putin said.
The premier also said the government will allocate 75 billion rubles ($3 billion) from the 2008 federal budget to boost Vnesheconombank's capital.
"The Russian government has decided to set aside around $10 billion of budget funds in 2008 and 2009 to support the Russian stock market. The first 75 billion rubles [$3 billion] will be allocated from the 2008 budget to boost Vnesheconombank's capital," Putin said.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin earlier said the government could start to repurchase the shares of Russian companies, including businesses with government stakes, spending up to 500 billion rubles ($20 billion), if they remained undervalued for long periods.
