0:00:00 > 0:00:01Now on BBC News, Our World.
0:00:01 > 0:00:04Hundreds of industrial towns across Russia are facing extinction. Jenny
0:00:04 > 0:00:10Norton reports for Our World.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15Once the pride of the Soviet Union, hundreds of towns which helped to
0:00:15 > 0:00:18power Russia's industrialisation are under threat of extinction.
0:00:24 > 0:00:30Failing industries, a falling population and the sheer vastness of
0:00:30 > 0:00:36this country mean many places have been abandoned. Often leaving
0:00:36 > 0:00:38remaining residents in squalid conditions.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56Nearly one in ten Russians now live in places whose long-term future is
0:00:56 > 0:01:01at risk. The situation is so serious that the government has come up with
0:01:01 > 0:01:07a plan to try to save at least some of Russia's dying towns.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26To explore Kadykchan is to step back in time to the glory days of the
0:01:26 > 0:01:31USSR. A time when life was good for industrial workers and their
0:01:31 > 0:01:40families. Like many towns in the Russian far east, Kadykchan was a
0:01:40 > 0:01:48mono town, a settlement built around a single industry.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Kadykchan was one of thousands of coal mines that Howard the USSR
0:01:53 > 0:02:00towards its goal of becoming the greatest nation on earth. -- Howard.
0:02:00 > 0:02:09In its payday Kadykchan was a good place to live, its schools, cafes,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12shops and a cinema.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41This man moved to Kadykchan with his parents and lived in the town for 13
0:02:41 > 0:02:42years.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Tatiana and her husband live and run a business 700 kilometres away.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07They left Kadykchan 20 years ago but they still think of it as home.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59Soviet leaders came and went at coalminers were always referred to
0:04:59 > 0:05:08as the heroes of the Soviet Union. The first turn of coal was mined
0:05:08 > 0:05:15here in 1937 as part of Josef Stalin's brutal push to modernise
0:05:15 > 0:05:19the Russian economy. The first miners were Labour camp prisoners
0:05:19 > 0:05:22but as the decade progressed, ordinary workers were attracted to
0:05:22 > 0:05:26the Far East because they could double their salaries and get an
0:05:26 > 0:05:27apartment for their families.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27It's hard to imagine this ghost town was once a thriving place.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49The fall of coming is and the economic crisis that engulfed the
0:07:49 > 0:07:53whole country reduced demand for Kadykchan's coal and as soon as the
0:07:53 > 0:07:55mine got into trouble, everyone suffered.
0:09:04 > 0:09:10In the end, it was an accident which dealt the final blow. On the 15th of
0:09:10 > 0:09:14November, 1996 a methane explosion ripped through one of the minds just
0:09:14 > 0:09:20as the morning shift was coming to an end. -- mines.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51As their world came crumbling down, everyone scrambled to sell up and
0:09:51 > 0:09:52leave.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33From one end of Russia to the other, life in Moscow couldn't be any more
0:11:33 > 0:11:38different. The government has acknowledged the
0:11:38 > 0:11:43vulnerability of single industry towns. It has identified 319 at risk
0:11:43 > 0:11:52mono towns and hopes a $450 million development fund can help them.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Definitely this increases risks, that's why it's a story for each
0:11:56 > 0:12:01city to develop different incomes. The programme developed by this
0:12:01 > 0:12:05prestigious Moscow academy aims to give local leaders a crash course in
0:12:05 > 0:12:10the skills needed to get their towns off the critical list.We have
0:12:10 > 0:12:17during a year and a half to educate all 319 cities and each city sends
0:12:17 > 0:12:22us a team of five people. The programme combines governmental
0:12:22 > 0:12:25public services techniques but it's based on the business school
0:12:25 > 0:12:30approach. For people living in some of them
0:12:30 > 0:12:36are noticed parts of Russia, this is all a pretty big ask. But the
0:12:36 > 0:12:40message from the top is clear, if you want to turn things round, you
0:12:40 > 0:12:46have to do it yourselves.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59This region used to be the centre of the coal industry in the Russian far
0:12:59 > 0:13:06north. But in the last 20 years it's lost half its population.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11Local leaders have been in Moscow to take part in the mono towns
0:13:11 > 0:13:15programme and are developing a strategy to rescue this place.
0:13:15 > 0:13:22Susanna is one of the last residents still living in one of the
0:13:22 > 0:13:22districts.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40Most of the residents left when the coal mine was closed down, leaving
0:13:40 > 0:13:42those remaining to fend for themselves.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Foresee the leaders involved in the redevelopment programme, the
0:14:01 > 0:14:06solution to the problem is to focus attention on bringing the city
0:14:06 > 0:14:11centre-back to life.There is no infrastructure for the development
0:14:11 > 0:14:15of new areas and at the moment for keeping people staying there. That's
0:14:15 > 0:14:20why they plan to renovate the city a lot. They plan to build their
0:14:20 > 0:14:23educational and entertaining centre and people will develop there as
0:14:23 > 0:14:30well in business enterprises.But outlying districts are not part of
0:14:30 > 0:14:38the regeneration plan. And for Susanna's neighbour, Ana, it has
0:14:38 > 0:14:40become a potentially dangerous place to live.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04For Anna, Susanna and the other last remaining residents, the only thing
0:15:04 > 0:15:08to do is to wait for the local council to rehouse them. But it's
0:15:08 > 0:15:12clear they are not on anyone 's priority list.
0:15:23 > 0:15:29Re-inventing and new future for a city built on coal will not be easy,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33all the more so when that city is in a remote and in hot -- inhospitable
0:15:33 > 0:15:36part of the country. So why would the Russian government even want
0:15:36 > 0:15:40people to stay in such a place? There are lots of patriots in the
0:15:40 > 0:15:44far east or the north who like living there, who are very
0:15:44 > 0:15:49interested in developing this traditional business there, so our
0:15:49 > 0:15:57idea is to give them possibilities. For the Russian government it is
0:15:57 > 0:16:01important to try to maintain a population on the hour to edges of
0:16:01 > 0:16:09the country, but not everyone on the list of mono towns will survive
0:16:09 > 0:16:10the country, but not everyone on the list of mono towns will survive.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Some could bring workers out in an out on short-term fixed contracts,
0:16:14 > 0:16:19others will shut down altogether. Some cities will be closed, but not
0:16:19 > 0:16:23closed as the government decides to close, but because people will leave
0:16:23 > 0:16:28them for better.
0:16:32 > 0:16:40Up in the Arctic Circle, near the border with Finland, is this town.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45From above it looks like a prosperous place, but the government
0:16:45 > 0:16:50says it is one of Russia's most vulnerable mono towns. Founded in
0:16:50 > 0:16:551929, the main business is mining, but it has also established itself
0:16:55 > 0:16:59as a popular film location. Its dramatic landscape makes it a
0:16:59 > 0:17:02perfect stand-in for everywhere, from the American midwest to the
0:17:02 > 0:17:12Russian far east. It is also ideal for people who like the outdoors.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17This woman is a botanist and king cyclist and has lived here for most
0:17:17 > 0:17:23of her life. -- Keane.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Kirovsk was also hit hard by the chaos of the 1990s. It survived the
0:18:28 > 0:18:31economic crisis because it has another incredibly valuable asset,
0:18:31 > 0:18:40massive deposits of appetite, all used on agricultural fertilisers.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53The company that now owns the mining business here dominates Kirovsk. It
0:18:53 > 0:18:58employs one third of the local workforce and has funded much of the
0:18:58 > 0:19:04infrastructure. It is also trying to diversify the local economy.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46To encourage the tourists to come, they've even reopened the local
0:19:46 > 0:19:53airport. Again it is dependent on the company. If the plan is to work
0:19:53 > 0:19:58there will be challenges.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32The last two decades have been a struggle and it is still not easy to
0:20:32 > 0:20:38make ends meet. The 1990s also spell the demise of the once grand Kirovsk
0:20:38 > 0:20:46railway station. It's ruined the side looms over the town. -- its
0:20:46 > 0:20:50ruined facade. As I know still how precarious the future could be.
0:20:50 > 0:20:57Could Kirovsk go the way of Kadykchan? It is tended to see the
0:20:57 > 0:21:01parallels. If Kadykchan relied on call and the state, Kirovsk is no
0:21:01 > 0:21:07less dependent. Its reserves of Apatit are expected to last for
0:21:07 > 0:21:11another 80 years, longer than the sovereign union existed, but markets
0:21:11 > 0:21:20can be fickle and in Russia many companies have dissolved. Can
0:21:20 > 0:21:22Kirovsk survive without the mining companies?
0:22:07 > 0:22:12On the other side of Russia, Vladimir has already had to come to
0:22:12 > 0:22:17terms with the unimaginable. All around him every day he sees the
0:22:17 > 0:22:24ruins of the old Soviet world he and his family worked.