Cold crisis in Russian Far East

President Putin's representative in the Russian Far East Konstantin Pulikovskiy has accused local authorities of negligence in their handling of a heating crisis.

Power companies have refused to deliver supplies until regional councils pay fuel bills amounting to millions of dollars.

Temperatures in the area drop to minus ten degrees Celsius, and desperate residents have been protesting at the Trans-Siberian railway near the regional capital, Vladivostok.

Prosecutors in two areas the town of Artem and and the Kavalerovskiy district have begun criminal proceedings against local authorities for failing to ensure adequate heating in homes, offices and schools.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service