The deputy head of Russia's central bank, Andrei Kozlov, has warned that hundreds of the country's commercial banks face bankruptcy because the government has less than two billion dollars to bail them out.

Mr Kozlov said only a few dozen banks would get cash to stay afloat.

Last week the Russian government ended the moratorium on debt repayments it imposed in August when the rouble was devalued.

Western creditors can now take Russian banks to court in an attempt to get their money back -- and it's thought they're owed something in the region of thirty billion dollars.

The BBC economics correspondent says western bankers will be disappointed but not surprised that so many of their debtors are about to go out of business.