Russia's Investigative Committee believes that the Vkontakte social networking site failed to take adequate measures to suppress groups which encourage teenagers to commit suicide.
"It was found that the activity of this 'death group' was carried out exclusively on the Vkontakte social network, whose leadership, according to the investigation, has not taken sufficient measures for blocking and suppression of correspondence between administrators and participants," said Svetlana Petrenko, head of the Committee's press service.
Read about online extremism cases.
According to the Investigative Committee, an admin of one of the so-called "death groups" has been arrested in connection with the suicides of 15 minors in different regions of Russia. Five additional young people who did not manage to commit suicide are also named as victims in the case.
Read about the arrest of an administrator of a pro-suicide group on Vkontakte.
Investigators are currently searching for more information on the administrators and members of such groups in 10 Russian regions.
