Three still in hospital after taxi hits crowd near Kremlin

Three people were recovering in hospital today after a taxi ploughed into pedestrians just steps from Moscow's Red Square during the World Cup in Russia.

Saturday's incident has focused attention on security at the planet's most watched event.

More than 600,000 foreign tourists are expected to descend on Russia during the June 14 to July 15 showpiece.

Colourful crowds of fans from the 32 participating nations have been congregating by Red Square to snap pictures of the Kremlin for the past week.

Moscow police underscored their sensitivity to the case by taking the unusual step of releasing a video of the taxi driver telling investigators he had meant no harm.

"I never violated anything in the Russian Federation," the man said in a pleading voice.

"And everything was fine at work. Everyone respected me." Authorities identified him as 28-year-old Kyrgyz national Anarbek Chingiz.

He was shown telling police that he had been working for 20 hours and was planning to go home to rest after picking up one more customer.

"I myself do not know what happened," he said. "I got dazed for a second, stepped on the gas -- I wanted to step on the break."