I think this is an old wives-tale. (nice video - glad to see Russia has after effects/CGI now!)
The original story went something like this.....
So the power company demanded that they put in huge high tension power lines across a farmers field. He protested, but "eminent domain" prevailed. The lines happened to run right past his barn. So he did what any farmer would do. He pulled out his mile long spool of copper wire (like every farmer has a mile of copper sitting around - but for the general public, it's plausible) and wrapped his barn in copper. And then started stealing power from the power company! Untill the "man" shut him down.
BTW - I forget is magmatic field the inverse cube of distance, or the inverse square? - anyways - that barn would have to been right up next to them big old power lines.