WASHINGTON: The leaders of Russia and Turkey have blasted the Obama administration over leaked US diplomatic cables in the most concrete signs yet that the disclosures are rattling America's strategic relationships.

The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, condemned comments attributed in cables to the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, saying the American official was ''deeply misled'', while the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan, said a US apology for cables alleging financial improprieties was insufficient. ''The US is responsible for those diplomats' false claims and their smears,'' Mr Erdogan said in Ankara on Wednesday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Credit:Reuters

The comments show the controversy is increasingly touching sensitive domestic politics in foreign countries and entangling individual US officials. While Mr Gates played down the cables' effect on foreign policy, other voices suggest the damage may be widespread, as more than 250,000 other communiques are gradually released.

''I'll be very surprised if some people don't lose their lives,'' the former president Bill Clinton said. ''And goodness knows how many will lose their careers.''