MOSCOW - Russian police have detained 13 nationals of Russia and some African states suspected of defrauding an unidentified Chinese company of nearly $1 million.

"An organized international criminal group has been exposed. It included citizens of Russia and a number of African countries - Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo and Guinea," Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Alexeyeva said in a statement.

The group has created a number of shell firms offering supplies of oil products to foreign businesses. It has promised a shipment of fuel oil to a certain Chinese company for 990,000 dollars. The money went to bank accounts belonging to African citizens and subsequently vanished.

After a complaint from China, Russian police raided and searched some offices and banks in Moscow and the Moscow region, finding false financial documents, forged passports and detaining 13 people, some of whom were identified as organizers of the fraud.

A representative of the Chinese company has been invited to Russia to participate in the investigation, the statement said.