MOSCOW (Reuters) - An armed man took at least five people hostage at a bank in Russia's coal-producing region of Kemerovo on Friday, Russia's state RIA news agency reported.

The man, armed with guns and grenades, took control of the Ursa Bank in the city of Leninsk-Kuznetsky, about 3,000 km (1,900 miles) from Moscow, and demanded his acquaintance be freed from jail.

"Five bank workers are inside," RIA quoted a spokesman for the local administration as saying. The spokesman said local governor, Aman Tuleyev, would head negotiations with the man.

The Kemerovo region, Russia's biggest coal-producing region, has been badly hit by the economic crisis after major steel producers slashed their coking coal consumption.