Still no deal over Greece bailout

Europe was scrambling on Friday to pick up the pieces after another failed meeting over Greece's bailout that reinforced fears that the country was heading for bankruptcy and a possible euro exit.

Amid signs that Greeks are taking their money out of banks in growing amounts, the European Central Bank has scheduled a teleconference of its governing council to discuss emergency liquidity assistance for Greek banks - just two days after it increased the amounts it was willing to provide.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Friday that Russia would have to hear a proposal from Greece before taking any actions, after a Russian official was quoted as saying Russia could consider offering financial support to Greece.

The scale of unease over Greece's failure to thrash out a deal to get more loans from creditors is evident in the fact that the ECB has been steadily increasing the emergency credit it allows Greek banks to draw on to remain afloat.

The ECB could turn off that support if it thinks Greece is going bust. The country needs a deal with creditors to get more bailout loans before June 30, when it has the first of a series of debt repayments it cannot afford.

The ECB would be under intense pressure to stop pumping money into a banking system that might collapse and take the ECB's money with it.

An EU official said 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) had been taken out of Greek banks in the last three days.

"Money is going out of the Greek banks faster than at any time before," said the official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

The ECB meets under acute pressure to keep the Greek banks afloat ahead of an emergency summit of the eurozone's 19 leaders that's been called for Brussels on Monday.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tried to sound an optimistic tone despite the acrimonious failure of Thursday's meeting of the eurozone's finance ministers.

AP - Reuters