Ministry recommends Russians not to visit riot zones in UK

MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Foreign Ministry recommends Russian citizens visiting the United Kingdom to stay alert and to avoid the riot-stricken areas.

“Riots accompanied with looting and pogroms have been on in the UK for four days. The police are trying to ensure security and public order in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and some other cities,” the ministry said.

According to the ministry, 450 people have been arrested, and a number of people are wounded. “The police say there are no Russians amongst them,” the ministry said.

The ministry hopes that the UK government “will do its best to achieve stabilization.”

“Under these circumstances, the Russian embassy in London is bound to ensure security of Russian citizens visiting the UK. The embassy maintains permanent contact with the police. Information about the riots is posted on the embassy website (www.rusemb.org.uk) and is supplied over a hotline, +44 7721337434,” the ministry said.

“With this in mind, we recommend Russian citizens visiting the UK to stay alert and avoid the riot-stricken cities,” the ministry said.

The Russian embassy in London has no information about possible injuries of Russian citizens in riots in the British capital and other cities, a source at the embassy’s consular department told Itar-Tass earlier in the day.

“The embassy has no information about possible injuries of Russian citizens in the riots” in the UK, he said. There is no information about any Russians detained in the riots either.

The embassy opened a hotline for every Russian citizen to receive reliable information about the situation in London, where the riots had been on for three days.

According to the latest reports, 525 people have been arrested for looting and attacks on police officers. Charges were brought against about 100 detainees.

Apart from London, the riots were also reported from Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol. Thus, the embassy recommended Russian citizens to stay away from those areas.

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