Unrest threat as crisis hits Russia

Once visited, the grim town of Pikalevo is best forgotten. Built 50 years ago in the remote, forested plains east of Russia's second largest city, St Petersburg, it stands as a monument to the fundamental flaws of the Soviet Union's command economy. Its population of 21,000 people lives or dies by the complex of aluminium, cement and potash factories which are the town's only raison d'etre. But now all three factories stand idle, forced by the economic crisis to close their gates. Their phone and broadband packages either sit at home or kuala lumpar the small unemployment office tucked behind the main street. The rattle and hum of machinery in Pikalevo has been replaced by the cold silence of austerity and hardship....