MOSCOW. April 5 (Interfax) - Two senior police officers in Moscow have been charged with attempted fraud, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Monday.
The accused are Andrei Alashinov, head of the Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district police authority, and his deputy Vitaly Meshkov, Committee spokeswoman Viktoriya Tsyplyonkova told Interfax.
Tsyplyonkova said Alashinov was currently in the cardiology ward of a Moscow hospital and "is in what is assessed as a condition of medium seriousness."
The police chief of the city's Southern Administrative Area, Alexander Podolny, told Interfax Alashinov and Meshkov were arrested on Thursday after the area's police authority had been tipped off that the two officers were trying to extort a bribe of 40,000 rubles.
Podolny cited investigators as saying they had found out that the money had been paid to Meshkov, who kept 25,000 rubles for himself and gave the rest to Alashinov.