MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Finance Ministry is considering a bail-in for big depositors as one of the measures to protect some banks from bankruptcy, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said on Friday.

A bail-in requires creditors, such as depositors and bondholders, to pick up some of the cost of rescuing a bank that risks running into trouble, shifting the burden away from the state.

Russia pledged aid of around 1 trillion roubles to the banking sector late in 2014 to help it to cope with the economic crisis and support other sectors of the economy.

Russian state guarantees a maximum 1.4 million roubles ($18,500) compensation on a retail deposit.

"The new mechanism will allow companies and holders of very big deposits ... to become shareholders and in a couple of years perspective, if the bank operates successfully... get money," Moiseev said in a statement.

He added that a deposit threshold of 100 million roubles was now being discussed for any bail-in. Last week, the central bank revoked the licence of Vneshprombank, estimating it had a 187.4 billion rouble hole in its balance sheet.

Vneshprombank, among Russia's top 40 by assets, had a number of wealthy clients, including Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group and its subsidiaries with 18.68 billion roubles in deposits.

The state has already spent over 1 trillion roubles on bailing out banks during the economic crisis, which has been exacerbated by Western sanctions.

(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)