Crime wave hits Moscow

Police registered four separate thefts from car drivers, of amounts ranging from 300,000 rubles to 3 million rubles ($10,900 to $109,000) on Tuesday alone, state broadcaster Vesti-24 said in a report posted on its Web site.

"Police have noted that since the start of the crisis, such crimes have become more common," Vesti said. "This is because people are carrying large amounts of cash. Some are changing it into foreign currency. Others are withdrawing it from banks and taking it home. Criminals are taking advantage of this."

For long-suffering Moscow residents, the cash heists come on top of a wave of high-profile murders which have seen opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot dead in her apartment building in 2006, and Ruslan Yamadayev, a former Chechen lawmaker, gunned down in his car outside the British Embassy on Sept. 24.

Four people attacked the driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had stopped at a traffic light, injuring him with a hammer and baseball bats, before making off with a bag containing 300,000 rubles at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said. At about the same time, three men grabbed a bag with 3 million rubles in it from a 32-year-old sitting in a car, before making off in another car, according to police.

Shooting
Three men stopped a car in the city center driven by a 45-year-old businessman and snatched a bag from him with 500,000 rubles Tuesday evening. At about 10 p.m. a group of five men shot a 32-year-old man as he got out of his car, wounding him, and escaping with "a large amount of money," police said.

Investors have withdrawn at least $140 billion from Russia since the start of August, BNP Paribas SA estimates, because of slumping commodities prices, the war with Georgia and the seizing up of global capital markets. The government pledged more than $200 billion for banks and companies to boost liquidity amid the credit crunch.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Nov. 5 for the creation of a new global economic system, blaming the U.S. for the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

He is set to travel to Washington on Nov. 15 for an emergency meeting of leaders of the G-20 group of industrialized and developing nations.

Russia rejects missile offers
Russia has rejected U.S. proposals seeking to ease its concerns about a missile defense system that Washington plans to deploy in Europe, local news agencies yesterday quoted a Kremlin source as saying, according to Reuters. "Russia is ready to cooperate with the U.S. on security but considers the proposals that were sent are insufficient," Itar-Tass news agency quoted the unidentified source as saying.

Meanwhile, amid such a contentious environment, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has offered to mediate between Washington and Moscow to ease tensions between the two countries, reported The Associated Press yesterday. "I'm committing myself to carrying out mediation," Turin daily La Stampa quoted Berlusconi as telling reporters Tuesday.