Norton reports for our world. Once the pride of the soviet union, hundreds of towns which helped to power russias 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 russias 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 pa rents this man moved to kadykchan with his parents and lived in the town for 13 yea rs. 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 ofjosef stalins 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. Its 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 kadykchans 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, eve ryo ne as their world came crumbling down, everyone scrambled to sell up and leave. From one end of russia to the other, life in moscow couldnt 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, thats why its 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 yearand off the critical list. We have during a year and a half to educate all 319 cities and each city sends us all 319 cities and each city sends usa all 319 cities and each city sends us a team of five people. The programme combines Governmental Public Services techniques but its 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 its lost half its population. Local leaders have been in moscow to ta ke 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. Attention on bringing the city centreback to life. There is no infrastructure for the development of new areas and at the moment for keeping people staying there. Thats 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 susannas 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 its 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 all the more so when that city is in a remote and in hot inhospitable pa rt 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. 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 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 russias most vulnerable mono towns. Founded in 1929, the Main Business is mining, but it has also established itself asa but it has also established itself as a popularfilm 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, theyve 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. Its 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. Well, the weekend is not looking too great for most of us. Its not going to be that bad, but there will be a lot of cloud around. It is going to be mild, though. This is what is heading our way. It looks like a lot of cloud streaming in our direction. Well be stuck under this during the course of saturday. Its already coming in, bringing some rainfall to western parts of the country. Ahead of it, you can see its still dry even through early saturday morning. So here we would have had a touch of frost around. I think by around 6am, the temperatures are above freezing already. But touching freezing early in the night. This is what happens through the course of the morning. So the weather front moves to the east, west to east, so you can see the back edge and rain getting into the Western Isles and northern ireland. So through the morning, in belfast, for example, the weather will actually be improving, after a damp end to the night. It is raining at this stage, so nine oclock across the north west in england, lancashire, wales, into the south west, but across the heart, the east midlands, east anglia, down to the south east, it is actually bright. I wouldnt be surprised even by some blue sky for a time. But not for very long, because by the latter part of the morning, that weather front moves in and its overcast across many parts of the country, at least in central and southern areas. In scotland, bright and windy, very windy in the Western Isles and the far north of scotland. Gale force winds, and at 70 miles an hour. Compared to the rest of europe on saturday, london will be about 10 degrees, paris at eight. Madrid nine degrees. Pretty much the same across many parts of western and south western parts of europe. Rome will be about 15. Back home, heres the low pressure late on saturday into sunday. That will bring severe gales to scotland. Blustery conditions throughout the pennines as well. But the isobars are coming from the south west, meaning that the south westerly winds will continue into sunday. In this sort of weather situation, we have a lot of cloud. It is mild. Temperatures might even touch about 14 or 15 degrees, which is mild for this time of year. With that, rain around, particularly across northern and North Western areas of the uk. But double figures, i think, for most of us. Still staying mild in the south westerly winds. A bit of rain around in this on monday. That will move southwards, but a shift in the wind direction here in the north means that it will turn a little bit colder. So i think single figures, even about five degrees, there. No more than that in aberdeen. Have a good weekend. This is bbc news. Im duncan golestani. Our top stories aftermath of a scandal the entire board of us gymnastics is to resign in the wake of the scandal surrounding the sexual abuse of Young Athletes by larry nassar. Police in canada say a billionaire and his wife were murdered in a targeted killing. President trump stands by his America First policies for trade, but insists when america grows, so does the world. And paris braces itself for more flooding as water levels are set to peak this weekend