VORONEZH. April 22 (Interfax) - Russia has managed to reduce its crime levels, said senior officials in the Russian Interior Ministry.

"The crime level in the country has reduced by 7% for the first time after many years. In the first quarter of this year the number of registered crimes, including street crime, was 7.5% less than in the same period last year," Russia's First Deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Sukhodolsky said at the meeting with officials from the Voronezh Region Central Police Department on Tuesday.

The number of thefts has also reduced, he said. "Over the past three months the number of registered thefts reduced by 9%, robberies by more than 15%, and assaults with robbery by a quarter," the interior official said.

Many social problems that remain unsolved have a noticeable effect on the crime situation, he said. Over 60% of individuals who committed offenses in 2007 had no permanent source of income, Sukhodolsky said.

One in eleven was unemployed, he said. "One in eight crimes in the country is being committed by drunken individuals, one in four - by former offenders," Sukhodolsky said.