The students from the former Soviet republic in Central Asia were beaten and robbed Wednesday evening in a dormitory of the State University of Management by a group led by a police officer. Two officers have been detained in connection with the incident.
Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov handed the Russian ambassador to Tajikistan a note expressing concern over the attack.
"The Tajik Foreign Ministry has urged the Russian side to conduct an objective investigation into the case, punish the perpetrators, and take action to prevent any such incidents in the future," the note said.
The Moscow City Prosecutor's Office said two suspects had been detained.
The attack took place at around 8 p.m. Moscow time (4 p.m. GMT) Wednesday, when a man dressed in civilian clothes knocked on the door of a student room at the dormitory in southeast Moscow saying he was a police officer. When a student opened the door, six more men in plainclothes burst in.
"They beat the students with an iron wrench and belts, and kicked them," prosecutors said. "One of the students dropped his mobile phone, and the assailants grabbed it and left."
The assault is the latest in a series of attacks on foreigners in Moscow. In a murder that shocked the country, Vagan Abramyants, a 17-year-old Armenian student at the State University of Management, was stabbed to death on the platform of Pushkinskaya metro station in central Moscow at about 5 p.m. April 22.
Prosecutors said these crimes were not being considered as racially motivated.
