Russian girl, 14, stages armed bank robbery: investigators

A 14-year-old Russian girl in the Urals city of Izhevsk staged an armed bank robbery as part of a plan to run away from home and commit suicide, investigators said today.

The girl, "wearing a mask and armed with a knife, carried out a raid on one of the city's commercial banks with the aim of stealing money but was stopped by the bank's security guards," the Investigative Committee said.

The girl had told investigators she carried out the robbery "with the aim of escaping her parents' excessive control," the committee said on its website.

"The girl wanted to use the money to leave the city and end her life by suicide," investigators said.

Komsomolskaya Pravda published security video footage of the girl wearing a white mask and hooded top waving a knife at female bank staff before being grabbed by guards.

She shouted that she wanted 200,000 rubles (about USD 6,200) in cash, local investigator Rodion Zainullin told the newspaper.

The girl was an A-grade student but was unhappy living with her divorced mother and her stepfather, the newspaper reported.

She has been freed after signing promises not to leave the city and to behave properly, investigators said.

In Russia minors aged between 14 and 16 can be jailed in youth prisons if they commit a serious crime even if it is a first offence.