Alina Orlova, 18, and Alyona Savchenko, 17, in the court room. Picture: DVhab

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT!

The three were outed on the internet before police took action, and they could now face up to ten years in jail if convicted of this and other offences.

Alina Orlova, 18, and Alyona Savchenko, 17, 'systematically abused animals, mutilated, and killed them with the use of sadistic methods', said the Investigative Committee, in charge of probing serious cases.

Online pictures of their vicious cruelty to dogs and cats was posted online, say investigators in Khabarovsk. The animals were alleged to have been struck with a bat, bound, stabbed, had their eyes gouged out, and hanged.

They could now face up to ten years in jail. Picture: DVhab

The pair will also be charged with a separate allegation of armed robbery, while Savchenko and male friend Valery Smyshlyaev, 18, faces court accused of duping a man on a date with an underage girl, and then seeking to blackmail him by accusing him of being a paedophile. Investigators indicated they believed he had knowledge of the animal cruelty.

Orlova had initially denied her involvement but her distinctive tattoo was seen on online pictures.

When Savchenko was detained, it was alleged she called herself the 'Devil's Duchess', and in one image she was shown holding a recently-killed puppy's heart with the caption: 'It's for you Anubis' - the original Egyptian 'god of the dead'.

She claimed that she needed 'to be constantly covered in blood to feel warmth', she said. Her clothing in macabre online postings is shown smeared in blood from the dead animals.

Valery Smyshlyaev, 18, faces court accused of duping a man on a date with an underage girl, and then seeking to blackmail him by accusing him of being a paedophile. Pictures: The Siberian Times

One witness told how Savchenko showed her a picture of 'a cat with its belly cut open', and people reported that stray dogs had 'started disappearing' last summer.

Images showed a dog nailed to a wall, according to local reports. A white dog was hung by its collar and shot with an air gun. A black dog was was 'crucified' and dissected.

Baseball bats, chemical liquids, tongs, and other instruments of torture were used on the animals, pictures posted online showed.

Both teenagers were said to be members of a now-deleted social media group called Mortem where users shared pictures of animal dissection and killed pets.

Alyona called herself the 'Devil's Duchess', and in one image she was shown holding a recently-killed puppy's heart with the caption: 'It's for you Anubis' - the original Egyptian 'god of the dead'. Pictures: The Siberian Times

The case involves 'dozens' of tortured animals, and a 'pet cemetery' in an abandoned building in Khabarovsk with the 'bones of puppies, and the remains of an adult dog', say reports.

A spokesman for the committee said: 'During a search of one suspect's apartment, the skull of a cat was found. Home computers and phones were seized for analysis.'

Animal protection campaigner Anastasia Fedyanina had urged the Investigative Committee to examine whether the animals were killed as part of a 'hard crush' sexual fetish with videos of young women slaughtering animals supplied to China.

Orlova, a university student, posted a social media message saying: 'I did not kill anyone and do not intend to kill ...' Pictures: The Siberian Times

She said at the time: 'Masochists viewing these videos imagine themselves in the place of the tortured animals. The role of the torturers is usually taken by prostitutes or a young woman with sadistic inclinations.'

The committee has not made clear if this forms part of the case to be heard later this year in court.

Orlova, a university student, posted a social media message saying: 'I would like to speak in my defence.... I do not know who has put this stuff to the Internet - it is not the first time somebody wants to frame me. But I did not kill anyone and do not intend to kill ...'