MOSCOW, July 10 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov) – A court in Russia’s Altai Republic gave two residents of neighboring Tyva Republic a 6-year prison term and a 4-year suspended sentence for stealing a herd of horses, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Monday.

The defendants were charged with a large-scale theft committed by a group of conspirators.

The court found that criminals had stolen a herd of 44 horses and transferred them from Altai to Tyva. Damage to the animals’ owners was estimated as high as 1.7 million rubles (about $28,500).