The Russian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan denied earlier media reports that Russians were injured during Monday's violence in the northern suburbs of Bishkek, the capital of the Central Asian country.
Hundreds of rioters went on a rampage after they tried to seize some 700 hectares of land outside the capital, saying it was theirs to build houses on, but the villagers drove them away.
Some media reports said the rioters chanted anti-Russian slogans and that there were Russian citizens among the injured in the clashes.
"Reports on Russians being injured are exaggerated. There is no information on injured Russian citizens," Viktor Kharchenko, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy, said.
He said that the diplomatic mission contacted the Kyrgyz Health Ministry, which confirmed that all those injured in the clashes were locals.
Kharchenko also said the embassy is checking information concerning reports on anti-Russian slogans during the riots.
"We are very careful with such statements. We have not yet confirmed this information. We are following the developments closely," he added.
Around a tenth of the population in the former Soviet Central Asian republic is ethnic Russian and some of them hold Russian passports.
The village of Mayevka, to the north of Bishkek, bore the brunt of the violence on Monday, with rioters burning buildings, throwing rocks at villagers' houses and pillaging private property.
According to the Kyrgyz Health Ministry, five people were killed and at least 30 injured overnight in the Mayevka village violence.
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)
