Crime
Moscow and Saint Petersburg have often served as the capital for auto theft in Russia, this crime in particular dramatically increased during the early 1990’s. Pick-pocketing is frequent in Moscow, as well as burglary from vehicles. Organized crime in Moscow and Russia in general, have often been involved with drug trafficking, cyber crime, prostitution, and financial crimes. Robbers in the city tend to pose as police officers, it is recommended to not travel alone and to use caution outside of Metro stations.[106] Moscow has historically had a high murder rate per capita. For the year of 1998, Moscow had a murder rate of 18.1 killings per 100,000 residents[107] and was the most dangerous European city; other cities that followed closely behind were Helsinki and Lisbon.[108]. A new study says nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks .[108].
Feral dogs
[109]
There are many feral dogs in Moscow. Before the XXII Olympic Games which were held in Moscow in 1980, there were many small individual houses in the city. However by the Olympiad those houses had been removed, to allow modern multi-storied buildings to be constructed on their sites. The inhabitants of those small houses had sentry dogs, but after the “snos” (destroying the houses) they have been compelled to let the dogs go outdoors. Since then the descendants of those dogs live in the streets.[citation needed]
