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A man who invented a 'suicide game' has admitted inciting at least 16 schoolgirls to kill themselves by taking part, according to authorities.

Philipp Budeikin is behind sick social media craze 'Blue Whale', which is aimed at children and police fear is spreading to Britain.

The Russian says his victims are "biological waste" and believes he is "cleansing society".

Budeikin has reportedly been inundated with love letters from teenage girls addressed to him at a Russian jail where he is remanded in custody.

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The 21-year-old - who has now confessed to the crimes, according to state investigators - told law enforcement interrogators his victims were "happy to die".

In a chilling interview he said: "There are people - and there is biological waste.

"Those who do not represent any value for society. Who cause or will cause only harm to society.

"I was cleaning our society of such people. It started in 2013 when I created F57 [online] community.

"I'd been thinking through this idea for five years. It was necessary to distinguish normal [people] from biological rubbish."

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The lethal game called Blue Whale involves an 'administrator' brainwashing vulnerable teenagers over a period of 50 days.

It involves urging them to complete tasks including waking at strange hours,.

Eventually exhausted and confused, they are told to commit suicide, and it is feared in Russia that dozens have done so at the bidding of Budeikin or other "mentors".

In Britain, a school in Essex had made parents aware of the game following talks with police.

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Police forces in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire have urged parents to monitor their child's social media.

Russian prison authorities say they have received dozens of love letters from teenage girls for the suspect at notorious Kresty jail in St Petersburg, which they passed on to him since he was held in November pending a trial.

They say they cannot ban Budeikin - also known by the name Philipp Lis (meaning Fox) - from receiving and replying to teenage girls who supply their addresses.

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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.

Some estimates say hundreds of Russian teenagers - the vast majority female - have died after becoming fixated with these online death groups.

One disturbing video purports to show one Russian girl jumping to her death.

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Anton 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).

"He started in 2013 and ever since he polished his tactics and corrected his mistakes.

"Philipp and his aides at first attracted children into VK (social media) groups by using mega-scary videos.

"Their task was to attract as many children as possible, then figure out those who would be the most affected by psychological manipulation.

"Say, out of 20,000 people, they knew 'their' audience would be only 20 people."

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In a chilling interview in St Petersburg, Budeikin was asked if he really pushed teenagers to their deaths.

"Yes," he said, "I truly was doing that.

"They were dying happy. I was giving them what they didn't have in real life: warmth, understanding, connections."

He denied reports that there had been as many as 130 teenagers.

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"There were 17 of them," he said, but also claimed another 28 were "ready" to take their lives.

"There were also those with whom I was simply communicating, who committed suicide later but without my direct influence."

He admitted to setting up social media with "depressive content that puts an individual in the right mood", before children are admitted to "private communities" online "where everything is happening".

"The game begins. You need to do tasks, tell about yourself, communicate," he said.

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"Then I Skype with the person, put her in trance and learn some things from their life after which I make my decision.

"At some point it is necessary to push the teenager not to sleep at night. [In this way their] psyche becomes more susceptible to influence.

"Unexpectedly, the idea became some sort of trend.

"There were a lot of imitators, which annoys me."

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True or not, the suicides are continuing promoted by these death groups after Budeikin's detention.

Investigator Breido said Budeikin had been friendless at school, and that his mother had little time for him because she had a long commute to and from work.

"He was in conflict with his peers," he said.

"He didn't show do well at studies. After classes, he spent all hours online. He barely saw his mother.

"So a person who never built any connection with anyone suddenly felt that he was in charge of other people's wills and lives."

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The investigator called for tougher laws to crackdown on people who promote suicide among the young.

Two school girls Yulia Konstantinova, 15, and Veronika Volkova, 16, fell to their deaths in February after it is believed they were involved in Blue Whale.

Angelina Davydova, aged only 12, fell to her death from the 14th floor of a block in central Russia on Christmas Day 2015 after logging onto a user group called 'Wake Me Up at 4.20' which had more than a quarter of a million subscribers before it was blocked.

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In the weeks before she died, the girl became convinced she was overweight and ate only light salads. She died 50 days after joining the group.

Diana Kuznetsova, 16, died after jumping from a nine storey building in Ryazan.

Anna K, from Karsun, was found hanged to death in March after becoming obsessed with the sinister Blue Whale game.

And in December, Vilena Piven, 15, jumped from the 13th floor in Mariupol, Ukraine and died on the spot.

Her classmates said that she was shy and had been seen as school with cuts on her arms.

Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.