Watch Russia demolish a Soviet-era TV tower because it was 'disfiguring' a city ahead of the World Cup

Alexei Kolchin/Reuters

An abandoned TV tower in Yekaterinburg, Russia collapsing during a controlled demolition on March 24.

• Russia blew up an abandoned Soviet-era tower to beautify the city before the World Cup.
• The 722-foot tower in Yekaterinburg, eastern Russia, crumbled within 15 seconds.
• Watch a video of the explosion below.

Russia demolished a 35-year-old abandoned TV tower in an attempt to beautify the city landscape before the World Cup - and footage of the explosion looks like it came straight from an action movie.

Authorities blew up the Soviet-era tower in Yekaterinburg, a city in eastern Russia, in a controlled explosion on Saturday.

Multiple explosives were planted around the building's circumference, and a special soil pad was placed in the surrounding area to limit the spread of debris, Deutsche Welle reported. The 722-foot tower crumbled within seconds.

Regional authorities decided last year that the structure was "disfiguring to the city landcscape" and needed to be cleaned up. Yekaterinburg will host four World Cup matches this summer.

Yevgeny Kuivashev, the regional governor, said: "No one seriously believes that the city needs such a symbol.

Alexei Kolchin/Reuters

The tower after the explosion.

Construction for the tower began in 1983 but was never completed due to the fall of the Soviet Union, Reuters reported. An ice rink will be built on the tower's site, Deutsche Welle said.

The entire operation cost about 200 million roubles (£2.5 million/$3.5 million).

Not everyone is happy about the tower's collapse, however. Ivan Volkov, who headed a committee opposing the demolition, said the building previously symbolised the city.

"Now it's the symbol of the people's humiliation at the hands of the authorities because the decision was made behind-the-scenes," he told Reuters.

Watch a video of the tower crumbling here: