MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) - A prominent mathematician, known for his accurate predictions on Russia's 1998 financial crisis and the breakup of the U.S.S.R., 'calculated' the current credit crunch and prepared for it, Russia's government daily said on Thursday.

Viktor Maslov, a member of Russia's Academy of Sciences, who helped make calculations for a protective shelter over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant reactor after the 1986 disaster, said the processes now taking place in economics are similar to certain phenomena in physics, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.

"I am referring to what is known as phase shifts, when a situation worsens abruptly, not gradually, and transforms into a different state, like an avalanche," Maslov told the daily. "Such processes are well known in physics, and are laid out in formulas of mathematical physics. They can also be applied to economics."

"Whether a crisis will break out or not, and even when this will happen, can be predicted," he told the paper.

Maslov said he had sold his apartment and country house in the summer, and sent the money to his children living abroad, advising them on how to invest it to survive the crisis.

Asked what advice he has for the administration of the United States, where the crisis originated, Maslov said they should not rescue large banks whose debts have long exceeded the "critical level," but focus on helping smaller banks that service individuals.

However, he was short on recommendations for Russia: "Our economy is too closed, and a large share of it is a shadow economy. It is therefore impossible to calculate critical figures and have a clear picture."