"Two Chinese workers had been invited via a newspaper announcement to do finishing work in a cottage near the town of Nakhodka," police spokesperson Albina Golubeva said. "When they arrived, they were attacked by four unidentified men."
After attacking the workers the assailants brought them to a remote road and left them there, taking away their car, Golubeva said. An investigation is underway.
Russia's Far Eastern regions neighboring China are home to hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals, many of whom work as shuttle traders illegally. Ethnically-motivated attacks on them have been reported occasionally.
In late March, a court in the city of Khabarovsk sentenced several men who carried out attacks on nine Chinese citizens between 2003-2005 to 18-23 years in prison.
The defendants were found guilty of banditry, murder, organized robbery, and inflicting grievous bodily harm. The gang was equipped with firearms, police uniforms, radios, and handcuffs.
