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The Krai Justice Department recently froze more than 120 million new rubles ($20 million) in city bank accounts, department officials announced Feb. 26.

The move will bring municipal services like public transportation to a halt, Vladivostok Mayor Victor Cherepkov said in a Feb. 27. press conference.

The mayor’s press center also announced on March 4 that city busses had stopped running because there was no money to pay for fuel. “If we are not able to break the blockade on city funds immediately, a serious social explosion could happen in Vladivostok,” the mayor said in a press release.

The accounts were frozen because the mayor ignored Justice Department orders to pay children’s benefits and wage arrears for 1996 and 1997, said Justice Department Acting Director Svetlana Shulga.

But Cherepkov accused the department of conspiring with krai officials to undermine his power. “This is a provocative act aimed at destabilizing the city in any way possible,” he said.

“Our actions don’t have anything to do with politics,” Shulga replied. “Our work functions in strict accordance with federal law.”

Because the city doesn’t open its books, the exact state of city accounts is uncertain. Soon after Cherepkov’s announcement, the Zolotoi Rog newspaper reported that the Justice Department froze only 15 of 67 of the mayor’s accounts, and there was still enough money in the local budget to fund city services. The television program Mesntnoye Vremya, however, reported that the city has 115 accounts.

Cherepkov has filed a complaint with the Leninsky District court. He claims that the krai government is responsible for the debts, which he said accrued after the krai illegally booted him from office in 1994. A court ruling returned him returned to power in 1996.