Rare displays of public anger were directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday following a fire over the weekend that killed dozens of children in a Siberian shopping centre.

The outpouring of emotion since Sunday's inferno has been stoked by revelations about breaches of safety regulations, including locked fire exits and a faulty alarm system.

Russian media have reported that 41 of the 64 dead were children.

Two employees of the Zimnaya Vishnya shopping centre in Kemerovo appeared in court to face charges of negligence and compromising security systems on Tuesday afternoon.

Nadezhda Suddenok, the manager of the shopping centre, and Alexander Nikitin, the employee responsible for the building's fire fighting and alarm systems, appeared at a hearing in the Siberian city's Zavodsky District Court on Tuesday afternoon.