Russia's Ghost Towns Our World

Now on BBC News, Our World.

Hundreds of industrial towns across

Russia are facing extinction. Jenny

Norton reports for Our World.

Once the pride of the Soviet Union,

hundreds of towns which helped to

power Russia's industrialisation are

under threat of extinction.

Failing industries, a falling

population and the sheer vastness of

this country mean many places have

been abandoned. Often leaving

remaining residents in squalid

conditions.

Nearly one in ten Russians now live

in places whose long-term future is

at risk. The situation is so serious

that the government has come up with

a plan to try to save at least some

of Russia's dying towns.

To explore Kadykchan is to step back

in time to the glory days of the

USSR. A time when life was good for

industrial workers and their

families. Like many towns in the

Russian far east, Kadykchan was a

mono town, a settlement built around

a single industry.

Kadykchan was one of thousands of

coal mines that Howard the USSR

towards its goal of becoming the

greatest nation on earth. -- Howard.

In its payday Kadykchan was a good

place to live, its schools, cafes,

shops and a cinema.

This man moved to Kadykchan with his

parents and lived in the town for 13

years.

Tatiana and her husband live and run

a business 700 kilometres away.

They left Kadykchan 20 years ago but

they still think of it as home.

Soviet leaders came and went at

coalminers were always referred to

as the heroes of the Soviet Union.

The first turn of coal was mined

here in 1937 as part of Josef

Stalin's brutal push to modernise

the Russian economy. The first

miners were Labour camp prisoners

but as the decade progressed,

ordinary workers were attracted to

the Far East because they could

double their salaries and get an

apartment for their families.

It's hard to imagine this ghost town

was once a thriving place.

The fall of coming is and the

economic crisis that engulfed the

whole country reduced demand for

Kadykchan's coal and as soon as the

mine got into trouble, everyone

suffered.

In the end, it was an accident which

dealt the final blow. On the 15th of

November, 1996 a methane explosion

ripped through one of the minds just

as the morning shift was coming to

an end. -- mines.

As their world came crumbling down,

everyone scrambled to sell up and

leave.

From one end of Russia to the other,

life in Moscow couldn't be any more

different.

The government has acknowledged the

vulnerability of single industry

towns. It has identified 319 at risk

mono towns and hopes a $450 million

development fund can help them.

Definitely this increases risks,

that's why it's a story for each

city to develop different incomes.

The programme developed by this

prestigious Moscow academy aims to

give local leaders a crash course in

the skills needed to get their towns

off the critical list.

We have

during a year and a half to educate

all 319 cities and each city sends

us a team of five people. The

programme combines governmental

public services techniques but it's

based on the business school

approach.

For people living in some of them

are noticed parts of Russia, this is

all a pretty big ask. But the

message from the top is clear, if

you want to turn things round, you

have to do it yourselves.

This region used to be the centre of

the coal industry in the Russian far

north. But in the last 20 years it's

lost half its population.

Local leaders have been in Moscow to

take part in the mono towns

programme and are developing a

strategy to rescue this place.

Susanna is one of the last residents

still living in one of the

districts.

Most of the residents left when the

coal mine was closed down, leaving

those remaining to fend for

themselves.

Foresee the leaders involved in the

redevelopment programme, the

solution to the problem is to focus

attention on bringing the city

centre-back to life.

There is no

infrastructure for the development

of new areas and at the moment for

keeping people staying there. That's

why they plan to renovate the city a

lot. They plan to build their

educational and entertaining centre

and people will develop there as

well in business enterprises.

But

outlying districts are not part of

the regeneration plan. And for

Susanna's neighbour, Ana, it has

become a potentially dangerous place

to live.

For Anna, Susanna and the other last

remaining residents, the only thing

to do is to wait for the local

council to rehouse them. But it's

clear they are not on anyone 's

priority list.

Re-inventing and new future for a

city built on coal will not be easy,

all the more so when that city is in

a remote and in hot -- inhospitable

part of the country. So why would

the Russian government even want

people to stay in such a place?

There are lots of patriots in the

far east or the north who like

living there, who are very

interested in developing this

traditional business there, so our

idea is to give them possibilities.

For the Russian government it is

important to try to maintain a

population on the hour to edges of

the country, but not everyone on the

list of mono towns will survive

the country, but not everyone on the

list of mono towns will survive.

Some could bring workers out in an

out on short-term fixed contracts,

others will shut down altogether.

Some cities will be closed, but not

closed as the government decides to

close, but because people will leave

them for better.

Up in the Arctic Circle, near the

border with Finland, is this town.

From above it looks like a

prosperous place, but the government

says it is one of Russia's most

vulnerable mono towns. Founded in

1929, the main business is mining,

but it has also established itself

as a popular film location. Its

dramatic landscape makes it a

perfect stand-in for everywhere,

from the American midwest to the

Russian far east. It is also ideal

for people who like the outdoors.

This woman is a botanist and king

cyclist and has lived here for most

of her life. -- Keane.

Kirovsk was also hit hard by the

chaos of the 1990s. It survived the

economic crisis because it has

another incredibly valuable asset,

massive deposits of appetite, all

used on agricultural fertilisers.

The company that now owns the mining

business here dominates Kirovsk. It

employs one third of the local

workforce and has funded much of the

infrastructure. It is also trying to

diversify the local economy.

To encourage the tourists to come,

they've even reopened the local

airport. Again it is dependent on

the company. If the plan is to work

there will be challenges.

The last two decades have been a

struggle and it is still not easy to

make ends meet. The 1990s also spell

the demise of the once grand Kirovsk

railway station. It's ruined the

side looms over the town. -- its

ruined facade. As I know still how

precarious the future could be.

Could Kirovsk go the way of

Kadykchan? It is tended to see the

parallels. If Kadykchan relied on

call and the state, Kirovsk is no

less dependent. Its reserves of

Apatit are expected to last for

another 80 years, longer than the

sovereign union existed, but markets

can be fickle and in Russia many

companies have dissolved. Can

Kirovsk survive without the mining

companies?

On the other side of Russia,

Vladimir has already had to come to

terms with the unimaginable. All

around him every day he sees the

ruins of the old Soviet world he and

his family worked.