MOSCOW Aug 14, (AFP) – Police in Russia have arrested a suspected serial killer accused of committing 15 murders in Moscow, news agencies reported on August 14. The 21-year-old man is being quizzed in connection with the killings of non-Slavic people over two years.

“Police suspect him of having committed 15 murders in Moscow in 2007 and 2008,” an interior ministry official told the ITAR-TASS agency. In Russia, “non-Slavic” is mainly used to describe people of Caucasian, Asian or African origin.

The suspect was arrested on August 13 at Kursk train station in Moscow as he was about to depart for Ukraine, an interior ministry official told the Interfax agency. He had been detained on one occasion last year but managed to escape from a police van transporting him and had since been in hiding.

The interior ministry added that he resisted arrest before being placed in police custody.

Interior ministry press release (Russian)