Political clashes, bank closures and protests have rumbled through Tatarstan in recent months, shaking a region that is key to Russia's stability. As in many of the country's autonomous regions, policies instituted by the federal government in Moscow as it copes with economic recession have not sat well with Tatarstan. Leaders of the Muslim region complain that President Vladimir Putin's administration is taking too much from Tatarstan, which has had to borrow money to keep the local economy running. More than a dozen other regions have defaulted on government and international loans, and complaints from regional leaders have grown louder as the country's economic troubles have dragged on. Putin has responded with a purge, replacing six different regional leaders in the past six weeks. But that has not silenced some, including Tatarstan's president, Rustam Minnikhanov, one of the Kremlin's most vocal critics.