'Like all other teenagers, she spent a lot of time in social networks. He revealed how easy it was to succumb to Budeikin's trap. However, one unidentified girl went through to the final stage of the game before giving up, and she provided state investigators with crucial evidence. 'One of the troubles for us was that 15 children who committed suicide at administrator's orders were told to delete all correspondence in their social media accounts, which they all did.' 'They felt their position in the group was so precious that did literally everything to stay in. 'A small group that was left who obediently went through all the tasks, with teenagers being physiologically ready to follow whatever the administrators told them, no matter how strange or scary the tasks. 'Those who stayed were given much stronger tasks like cutting their veins, to balance on a roof top, to kill an animal and post a video or pictures to prove it. 'These ones were clearly too strong to be manipulated. 'They gathered the children, then offered simple tasks which for some children were too boring or weird to complete.īudeikin - who has now confessed to the crimes - says he thinks of his victims as 'biological waste' and told police that they were 'happy to die' and he was 'cleansing society' (pictured, Kresty jail in St Petersburg where he is being held) He explained how the deadly process worked. '"Biological waste" is how death group administrators referred to children they pushed to commit suicide.' 'Say, out of 20,000 people, they knew 'their' audience would be only 20 people. 'Their task was to attract as many children as possible, then figure out those who would be the most affected by psychological manipulation. Philipp and his aides at first attracted children into VK (social media) groups by using mega-scary videos. 'He started in 2013 and ever since he has polished his tactics and corrected his mistakes. Some estimates say hundreds of Russian teenagers - the vast majority female - have died after becoming fixated with these online death groups.Ī disturbing video purports to show one Russian girl jumping to her death.Īnton Breido, a senior official from the Investigative Committee, seen as an equivalent of the FBI, warned: 'Budeikin very clearly knew what he had to do to get the result (he wanted). 'This is where romantic feelings were born.' Psychologist Veronika Matyushina said: 'Most likely, those young girls who fell in love with Philip Lis were not receiving enough love and attention from their parents, and this handsome young man from the Internet provided certain support for them and gave that attention they needed. Her classmates said that she was shy and had been seen as school with cuts on her arms In December, Vilena Piven, 15, jumped from the 13th floor in Mariupol, Ukraine and died on the spot.