Eight Uzbek nationals were detained in Karelia’s Medvezhyegorskiy District in the course of an investigation into a criminal case which was opened after two locals had been injured, the press-service of the republic’s investigations directorate told Interfax.

As reported earlier, on Saturday [13 October] night a fight occurred in a disco in Pindushi village’s cultural centre during which two people sustained knife injuries, Interfax reported.

The confrontation started with a verbal squabble between minors from the village and young visitors. The latter, according to a source in the law-enforcement agencies, were natives of Uzbekistan. It is known that they were legal migrant workers and all their migration documents were in order.

After the fight two local residents were admitted to the local hospital. The first had sustained a nonpenetrating wound to the abdomen, the second, a penetrating wound to the thorax. Apart from this, medical assistance was also rendered to another young man who had suffered cuts to his wrists and knees.

According to Interior Ministry information, all the participants in the fight were in a drunken state. One of the victims, a resident of the village, had a former conviction. The second was a schoolboy, whose "behaviour was not exemplary".

Medvezhyegorskiy District’s internal affairs department has opened a criminal case under the articles "intended infliction of serious harm" and "assault".