Moscow - Russian state television has lowered the pitch of its coverage of the most devastating financial crisis to hit the markets in over a decade at the Kremlin's behest, the Moscow Times reported Thursday, citing media monitoring firms.

Kremlin officials have banned the use of the terms "crisis" and "collapse" on the country's main television channels, the newspaper quoted Ekho Moskvy radio sation deputy editor Vladimir Varfolomeyev as saying.

Russia's three main state-controlled channels - Channel One, Roosya and NTV - failed to report the record 19-per-cent dive in stock prices on Moscow's bourses Monday, instead showing a meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and billionaire Mikhail Fridman talking about the opportunities to be seized by Russian firms amid the global turmoil, the paper said. (dpa)