Foreign nationals are responsible for some 20 percent of the murders and half of the rapes registered in Moscow since the beginning of the year, government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on Tuesday, quoting the capital’s prosecutor.
Sergei Kudeneyev also said some 30 percent of robberies and 20 percent of thefts are committed by foreigners.
He said, however, that the number of crimes committed in Moscow by foreign citizens dropped by 30 percent since 2010. The overall number of crimes registered in the capital also decreased by 7 percent in the first 10 months of 2011, year-on-year, he said, adding: “The situation is difficult, but the trends are positive.”
However, the rate of closing crime investigations has also decreased by 6 percent in 2011, including an 11-percent drop in the number of especially severe offenses solved, Kudeneyev said. Only 17 percent of thefts, which make up more than half of all crimes registered in Moscow since the beginning of the year, have been solved, he added.