MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. The Interior Ministry said its officers have detained three foreigners suspected of selling drugs that poisoned 20 people in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.

Officers at the ministry’s department for combating drug trafficking have identified three individuals suspected of peddling drugs who may have been complicit in the incident, Irina Volk, a spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry, told TASS.

"Three nationals of the republics of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were detained by police officers in the Stavropol Region and taken to Astrakhan," she said.

According to Volk, the Interior Ministry was responding to a report from a hospital that 20 Astrakhan residents were admitted with signs of toxic poisoning from exposure to an unidentified substance. It was tentatively established that the patients had used synthetic drugs a day before. A criminal investigation is underway, the spokeswoman said.