DUSHANBE, June 14, Asia-Plus - Two Tajik citizens, who are suspected of an armed attack on two Chinese citizens, were detained in eastern Moscow, spokeswoman for the police department of the Moscow eastern administrative district Tatiana Petrova told Itar-Tass Wednesday.

According to her, policemen, who patrolled the Moscow district of Izmailovo, noticed a man with face bruises and a bleeding arm injury and a young woman in tears. “Victimized Chinese citizens stated that unidentified gangsters attacked them, beat up the man, stabbed him several times, took away a bag from his girlfriend and escaped,” the spokeswoman said.

However, the bandits could not run away too far, a police patrol detained them hot on their traces. “The two attackers came from Tajikistan and were born in 1983 and 1981, a knife and stolen things were confiscated from them,” Petrova pointed out. Criminal proceedings were instituted for armed attack.

The Russian Interior Ministry said foreigners committed 17.4 thousand crimes for four months of 2007 that is six percent less than for the same period in 2006. Comers from CIS states (15,6 thousands) account for the overwhelming majority of crimes.

As far as crimes against foreigners is concerned, their level is still high. More than 5,000 similar crimes were reported in 2007 alone.