They crafted a five-metre-square (54 sq ft) den in an out-of-the-way corner of rural Znamensky District, using materials they'd scavenged, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reports. "They installed a stove and wallpapered the walls," it reports with some admiration for the truants' "spirit of initiative".

The police were less impressed with how the youngsters spent their spare time in the snowbound shack. "They drank hard liquor, smoked tobacco, and indulged in gambling," regional prosecutors complained on their official site . As if that weren't enough, just two of the underage regulars at the unlicensed bar racked up 100 hours of bunking off lessons between them.

Online comment has been largely indulgent, with one social-media user suggesting that "they wouldn't have to go and practice carpentry on their own if they had a proper teacher to show them how to do it at school".

The truants have been packed off home and their clubhouse demolished, but the work of the Omsk prosecution service is not yet done. "They are keen to find out where the children got their hands on the cigarettes and alcohol, and have launched large-scale inspections in Znamensky District," Komsomolskaya Pravda reports. But the paper thinks the teens may yet benefit from the experience - "after all, their talent for building could help them in their choice of profession one day".