Police say that crime figures have increased due to stricter punishments for theft. Kyiv police have reported that the number of serious crimes has decreased in Kyiv and added that crime figures have increased due to stricter punishments for theft.

Chief of the media liaisons office of the Ukrainian interior ministry's department in Kyiv, Volodymyr Polischuk told Interfax-Ukraine that there were reports in the media of an alleged increase in the rate of crime in the capital by 20%.

According to Polischuk, this year over half of all recorded crimes were related to property: over 11,000 thefts (2.7 times more than the same period of the previous year), 1,732 cases of fraud and 1,540 robberies.

The statistical rise in theft is explained by the fact that according to amendments to the Code of administrative law infringements and the Criminal Code of June 2009, the penalties for a range of unlawful actions were increased.

Polischuk noted that the number of serious crimes decreased by 15% compared to the previous year. This year 62 premeditated murders (76 over the same period of the previous year), 73 serious assaults (83 over the same period of the previous year), and 159 armed robberies (190 in 2009) were registered this year, Polischuk said.