The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine is checking media reports that there was a Ukrainian woman among those detained in Italy on suspicion of kidnapping children.

"The Embassy of Ukraine in Italy is checking this information," director of the ministry's information policy department Yevhen Perebyinis said on Friday.

Italian media reported on Thursday the arrest of a former Soviet yachtswoman, Larysa Moskalenko, in Palermo on suspicion of involvement in a criminal group engaged in child kidnapping and trafficking.

Moskalenko, 50, was born in Ukraine and has recently been living in Italy. She was a bronze medalist in 470 sailing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (on the USSR team), world champion in 1991, and fourth at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (on the CIS team).