MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - The Association of Tour Guides, Interpreters and Tourism Managers has asked the authorities to step up efforts to clamp down on the practice of extorting money from foreign tourists by police officers in Moscow.

About a month ago the Association sent a letter signed by its president Alexander Osipov to the Kremlin, the government and the Moscow Central Police Department, the Association's Executive Director Larisa Sosunova told Interfax on Tuesday.

The letter, in particular, describes cases where police officers would extort money from foreign tourists who happened to have left their passports at the hotel for registration, under the guise of a fine for failure to produce IDs.

"These instances do occur, and our guides are regularly facing such situations," Sosunova said.

She added that the Association of Tour Guides, Interpreters and Tourism Managers comprises around 1,500 tour guides, and its purpose is to "protect and respect the interests of tour guides."

Neither the tourism committee nor the Moscow Central Police Department was available for comment.