In neighbouring Georgia meanwhile one person died and two dozen were injured in the second city Kutaisi as heavy snowfalls collapsed buildings, cut power supplies and stopped a train in its tracks.

"There are no warmer temperatures in sight," said Dmitry Kiktyov, deputy head of Russia's Hydrological and Metereological Centre, adding the freeze would last at least six more days.

The temperature on Thursday night was forecast to fall to minus 56 degrees Celsius (minus 69 Fahrenheit) in western parts of Magadan region - an area on Russia's Pacific Ocean coast once home to some of the deadliest labour camps in the Soviet Gulag and also the site of major gold mines.

The previous lowest temperature in the area was minus 53 C (minus 63 F), the Gazeta.ru news site reported.

A hundred modern-day prisoners were evacuated from the region earlier this week when the heating at their camp broke down as temperatures reached minus 52 C (minus 61.6 F), regions.ru said.

In Moscow, the temperature is forecast to fall to minus 25 C (minus 13 F) and reach minus 48 C (minus 54 F) in western Siberia and minus 36 C (minus 33 F) in the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, metereological officials said.

The cold in Murmansk disrupted shipping in the White Sea and blocked trains carrying oil to western Russia, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Southern parts of Russia - normally considered balmy in comparison with other regions - have also been affected by the cold snap.

In Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea coast, 14,000 inhabitants were without electricity Thursday after a major snowfall, Gazeta.ru reported.

Down the Black Sea coast in Georgia one woman died and three people were injured when the roofs of four houses collapsed under the weight of snow in Kutaisi, state television quoted officials in the western city as saying. A shopping centre fell down Thursday and part of the city court collapsed on Wednesday.

At least 20 other residents had been taken to hospital suffering from frost bite or broken limbs over the 48-hour period, administration officials said.

Electricity was cut in much of western Georgia after six substations stopped working, the energy ministry told AFP. In Kutaisi the lack of electricity led to water supply problems. Bread was also short.

National television showed pavements, streets and cars almost hidden in thick blankets of snow measuring between 1.5 and two metres deep (4.9 to 6.5 feet), with more falling.

The army called out 300 troops to help clear snowdrifts and evacuate the vulnerable. "If necessary we will mobilise 1,500 soldiers," Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Osepaishvili told Imedi television. "We are trying our best to help the elderly and those living alone."

In the western Zugdidi region of Georgia, near the breakaway province of Abkhazia, heavy snow blocked roads and cut off villages from the outside world.

A train from the capital Tbilisi to Kutaisi became stuck overnight. Passengers could only get off after dawn when enough of the track had been cleared for the train to proceed to the next station.

"Movement on most roads in our region is difficult. Several villages are totally cut from the main roads. There is a danger that traffic will also be paralysed on the main roads linking the region to the rest of Georgia," Zugdidi's administration chief Alexander Kobaliya told AFP by telephone.

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