Police in the central Kurgan region have detained two boys aged nine and 10 on suspicion of murdering a five-year-old, investigators said in a statement Wednesday.
"The boys, aged nine and 10 years, met a five-year-old boy in the street and after taking him to a derelict public steam bath, brutally beat him up," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
After beating the boy, the two juvenile suspects used a rope to strangle him and then hid his body in a metal drum, investigators said. The incident took place last week, they said.
Both suspects are being held in a juvenile detention center, investigators said.
According to Russian law, a person can be held to be criminally responsible for killing a juvenile from 14 years of age.
