Russia's Ghost Towns Our World


Russia's Ghost Towns

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Now on BBC News, Our World.

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Hundreds of industrial towns across

Russia are facing extinction. Jenny

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Norton reports for Our World.

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Once the pride of the Soviet Union,

hundreds of towns which helped to

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power Russia's industrialisation are

under threat of extinction.

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Failing industries, a falling

population and the sheer vastness of

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this country mean many places have

been abandoned. Often leaving

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remaining residents in squalid

conditions.

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Nearly one in ten Russians now live

in places whose long-term future is

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at risk. The situation is so serious

that the government has come up with

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a plan to try to save at least some

of Russia's dying towns.

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To explore Kadykchan is to step back

in time to the glory days of the

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USSR. A time when life was good for

industrial workers and their

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families. Like many towns in the

Russian far east, Kadykchan was a

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mono town, a settlement built around

a single industry.

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Kadykchan was one of thousands of

coal mines that Howard the USSR

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towards its goal of becoming the

greatest nation on earth. -- Howard.

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In its payday Kadykchan was a good

place to live, its schools, cafes,

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shops and a cinema.

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This man moved to Kadykchan with his

parents and lived in the town for 13

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years.

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Tatiana and her husband live and run

a business 700 kilometres away.

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They left Kadykchan 20 years ago but

they still think of it as home.

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Soviet leaders came and went at

coalminers were always referred to

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as the heroes of the Soviet Union.

The first turn of coal was mined

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here in 1937 as part of Josef

Stalin's brutal push to modernise

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the Russian economy. The first

miners were Labour camp prisoners

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but as the decade progressed,

ordinary workers were attracted to

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the Far East because they could

double their salaries and get an

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apartment for their families.

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It's hard to imagine this ghost town

was once a thriving place.

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The fall of coming is and the

economic crisis that engulfed the

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whole country reduced demand for

Kadykchan's coal and as soon as the

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mine got into trouble, everyone

suffered.

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In the end, it was an accident which

dealt the final blow. On the 15th of

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November, 1996 a methane explosion

ripped through one of the minds just

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as the morning shift was coming to

an end. -- mines.

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As their world came crumbling down,

everyone scrambled to sell up and

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leave.

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From one end of Russia to the other,

life in Moscow couldn't be any more

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different.

The government has acknowledged the

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vulnerability of single industry

towns. It has identified 319 at risk

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mono towns and hopes a $450 million

development fund can help them.

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Definitely this increases risks,

that's why it's a story for each

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city to develop different incomes.

The programme developed by this

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prestigious Moscow academy aims to

give local leaders a crash course in

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the skills needed to get their towns

off the critical list.

We have

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during a year and a half to educate

all 319 cities and each city sends

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us a team of five people. The

programme combines governmental

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public services techniques but it's

based on the business school

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approach.

For people living in some of them

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are noticed parts of Russia, this is

all a pretty big ask. But the

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message from the top is clear, if

you want to turn things round, you

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have to do it yourselves.

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This region used to be the centre of

the coal industry in the Russian far

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north. But in the last 20 years it's

lost half its population.

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Local leaders have been in Moscow to

take part in the mono towns

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programme and are developing a

strategy to rescue this place.

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Susanna is one of the last residents

still living in one of the

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districts.

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Most of the residents left when the

coal mine was closed down, leaving

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those remaining to fend for

themselves.

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Foresee the leaders involved in the

redevelopment programme, the

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solution to the problem is to focus

attention on bringing the city

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centre-back to life.

There is no

infrastructure for the development

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of new areas and at the moment for

keeping people staying there. That's

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why they plan to renovate the city a

lot. They plan to build their

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educational and entertaining centre

and people will develop there as

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well in business enterprises.

But

outlying districts are not part of

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the regeneration plan. And for

Susanna's neighbour, Ana, it has

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become a potentially dangerous place

to live.

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For Anna, Susanna and the other last

remaining residents, the only thing

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to do is to wait for the local

council to rehouse them. But it's

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clear they are not on anyone 's

priority list.

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Re-inventing and new future for a

city built on coal will not be easy,

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all the more so when that city is in

a remote and in hot -- inhospitable

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part of the country. So why would

the Russian government even want

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people to stay in such a place?

There are lots of patriots in the

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far east or the north who like

living there, who are very

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interested in developing this

traditional business there, so our

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idea is to give them possibilities.

For the Russian government it is

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important to try to maintain a

population on the hour to edges of

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the country, but not everyone on the

list of mono towns will survive

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the country, but not everyone on the

list of mono towns will survive.

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Some could bring workers out in an

out on short-term fixed contracts,

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others will shut down altogether.

Some cities will be closed, but not

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closed as the government decides to

close, but because people will leave

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them for better.

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Up in the Arctic Circle, near the

border with Finland, is this town.

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From above it looks like a

prosperous place, but the government

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says it is one of Russia's most

vulnerable mono towns. Founded in

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1929, the main business is mining,

but it has also established itself

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as a popular film location. Its

dramatic landscape makes it a

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perfect stand-in for everywhere,

from the American midwest to the

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Russian far east. It is also ideal

for people who like the outdoors.

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This woman is a botanist and king

cyclist and has lived here for most

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of her life. -- Keane.

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Kirovsk was also hit hard by the

chaos of the 1990s. It survived the

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economic crisis because it has

another incredibly valuable asset,

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massive deposits of appetite, all

used on agricultural fertilisers.

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The company that now owns the mining

business here dominates Kirovsk. It

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employs one third of the local

workforce and has funded much of the

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infrastructure. It is also trying to

diversify the local economy.

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To encourage the tourists to come,

they've even reopened the local

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airport. Again it is dependent on

the company. If the plan is to work

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there will be challenges.

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The last two decades have been a

struggle and it is still not easy to

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make ends meet. The 1990s also spell

the demise of the once grand Kirovsk

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railway station. It's ruined the

side looms over the town. -- its

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ruined facade. As I know still how

precarious the future could be.

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Could Kirovsk go the way of

Kadykchan? It is tended to see the

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parallels. If Kadykchan relied on

call and the state, Kirovsk is no

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less dependent. Its reserves of

Apatit are expected to last for

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another 80 years, longer than the

sovereign union existed, but markets

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can be fickle and in Russia many

companies have dissolved. Can

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Kirovsk survive without the mining

companies?

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On the other side of Russia,

Vladimir has already had to come to

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terms with the unimaginable. All

around him every day he sees the

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ruins of the old Soviet world he and

his family worked.

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