Inmates in a Moscow pre-trial detention centre on Monday seized as many as 15 hostages, including a chief warden and his deputy, a spokesman for Russia's prison administration said.
"They are talking about from two to fifteen hostages," spokesman Alexander Sidorov said. "Officials are now negotiating with hostage-takers and the administration has control of the situation in the detention centre." Sidorov did not give further details of the incident at the prison in south-eastern Moscow.
Interfax news agency earlier quoted sources in Russian law-enforcement agencies as saying that five people had been injured and five hostages taken.
Ekho Moskvy radio station cited police sources as saying that several people had been injured in the incident. The prison has been sealed off by riot police, the radio station said. Hostage-taking is not unusual in Russian prisons, many of which are badly managed and maintained.