About 3.5 billion rubles (£78 million) had been spent by the Government on preparing Russia's team for the Games since the last Olympics in Turin in 2006 but they finished a lowly 11th overall with 15 medals, only three of them gold.

It was the country's worst performance since in the Winter Olympics since they made their first appearance in Lillehammer in 1994 following the break-up of the Soviet Empire.

Putin has now launched an investigation into the team's disappointing display and he revealed his dissatisfaction during an interview with Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

He told them: "That [funding] was five times more than the funds spent on preparing for the Turin Olympiad.

"The sum was comparable with those allocated by countries, which led in the Vancouver Games.

"Were the funds we assigned spent wrongly?

"We must analyse that."

The performance in Vancouver has been top of the political agenda in Russia since the Games ended last Sunday.

Leonid Tyagachev resigned as the President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and a new Deputy Prime Minister's role has been created to oversee preparations for Sochi 2014.

The fall-out from Vancouver is set to be far-reaching, affecting every sport in Russia.

Putin told Itar-Tass: "Sport federations must become more open and transparent so that we could demand results.

"Federations must be led by people whose main work and life purpose is sport.

"They must have detailed action plans targeted at results.

"The Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy must not only distribute the allocations but also coordinate training programmes and have a say in such important issues as, for instance, the appointment of coaches."

Putin may even order an entire overhaul of the Russian sports system.

He said: "That is a rather large foundation and we must scrutinise its work and see where the money goes."

Putin will not tolerate another poor performance at Sochi, an event he is widely credited with having won for Russia with his appearance at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote in Guatemala City in 2007.

He said: “Following the modest performance [of the Russian national team] in the Vancouver Games, I have heard that we will prepare for the Sochi Games but will not concentrate on winning.

“This is not so.

"Games of this scale are for winning, not just for warming up.

"The 11th place [of Russian athletes] in Vancouver is not what the fans have expected.

"A victory has plentiful fathers, and a defeat is always an orphan.

"We must start looking for reasons for the defeat of the national team in Vancouver from ourselves.

"Attempts to explain this defeat with unscrupulous judges, weather whims and intrigues of rivals are inappropriate.

"That is what outsiders do.

“We must start with the analysis of our own work: whether we did everything for our athletes and whether those bound to help them were efficient.

"We need to restore the training of coaches and the selection of prospective champions.

"We have financial incentives for athletes, but we will have to find athletes first.

"We must borrow the very best from the Soviet athletic training system and others’ techniques

"In addition, sport must become accessible to young talents."

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