Power cut to Russia's main naval base home town after pylons collapse

Five pylons, two of them almost 60 years old, collapsed about seven kilometres (four miles) from Murmansk on January 23, according to local media. Two dated from 1966, two from 1982 and one from 1988, according to a Severomorsk online news site.

The ships of the Northern Fleet docked in Severomorsk were switched to autonomous power mode to free up capacity, Vladimir Evmenkov, the head of Severomorsk, said.

Russia's "closed towns", usually around major defence or nuclear installations, have much stricter controls than most other places. Entry is controlled and special permissions are needed to visit.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Heavens)