A 16-year-old girl from the northwestern Russian city of Pskov faces trial in Perm Krai after allegedly instructing a 13-year-old boy to attack his classmate with a knife, law enforcement officials announced.
The Investigative Committee of Russia confirmed that investigators completed their criminal probe into the teenager, sending her case to court on charges of attempted murder. Prosecutors allege that the girl sought to orchestrate killings targeting students at educational institutions across the nation using a child as an accomplice.
According to investigators, the teenager embraced the ideology of a destructive youth movement before reaching out online in February to the 13-year-old resident of Aleksandrovsk, a town in Perm Krai near the Ural Mountains. Pskov, the suspect's home city, is an ancient regional capital located hundreds of miles away near Russia's border with Estonia.
During their messaging exchanges, the girl allegedly provided the younger boy with advice, recommendations, and explicit directions on how to murder his peers. Influenced by her instructions, the schoolboy carried out a knife attack against a classmate on February 19.
Attempted murder charges and juvenile law
The accused teenager has been indicted under Articles 30 and 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Article 105 covers the crime of murder under Russian legal statute, while Article 30 addresses preliminary criminal activity and attempted offenses. The Investigative Committee of Russia, the federal agency tasked with investigating major violent crimes across the country, stated that the indictment has been formally submitted to court for consideration on the merits.
Meanwhile, authorities terminated the criminal proceedings against the 13-year-old boy who carried out the stabbing. Under Russian criminal law, the minimum age of criminal responsibility for serious violent acts is set at 14, meaning children under that age cannot face formal prosecution. Following a court ruling, the boy was instead placed in a specialized closed educational and vocational institution designed to house and reform minor offenders.
Regional context and growing concerns
The case highlights growing scrutiny from Russian authorities regarding online radicalization among teenagers across vast geographic distances. Russian law enforcement has recently monitored several violent disputes involving minors, including a separate criminal case launched in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk following a playground argument between school children.
