KAZAN, Russia -- Two activists picketed the regional headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Russia's Tatarstan region on January 23, demanding it take steps to give consumers access to their accounts in two troubled banks.
Entrepreneur Irina Zakiyeva and Dmitry Berdnikov, leader of the movement Against Corruption and Lawlessness, held posters saying: "Where are you, FSB? Take measures to return money to clients of Tatfondbank and Intekhbank!"
Intekhbank and Tatfondbank -- Tatarstan's second-largest bank -- suspended cash services for their clients in December and asked the regional government for help solving their financial problems.
The Russian central bank later ordered the banks to suspend client services for three months and imposed a six-month period of outside supervision over their operations.
On January 21, at least 200 clients of the two banks rallied in Kazan, demanding the government intervene and enable them to obtain cash from their accounts.