In the wake of a rash of pick-pocketing, the mayor of St Petersburg was considering providing portable safety devices to tourists, the daily Izvestia reported.
An official at the mayor's office in the northwestern Russian city told the newspaper that from next year visitors might be able to rent a wireless device from local police that would summon an armed patrol at the touch of a button.
A plan to ensure the safety of tourists visiting during the 2006 to 2008 period currently foresees the installation of video cameras in the most popular places and the instruction of useful phrases in foreign languages to the local police.
Tourists, mostly from Finland, the US and France, had been the victim of 557 robberies in St Petersburg in the first seven months of 2005, police said. Tourism industry professionals have said the lack of public safety led to a drop by one-third in the number of tourists visiting St Petersburg this season.