March 25, 2026

The Epidemic That Cannot Be Named. Authorities' Silence on Foot-and-Mouth Disease Could Trigger Mass Cattle Deaths Across the Country. "Novaya Gazeta Europe" Investigation

The situation with mass culling of livestock in Russia has spiraled out of control. Authorities in several regions are dispatching veterinarians, accompanied by police, to private farms to confiscate, kill, and burn dozens of cows and other domestic animals. Farmers are fainting, threatening self-immolation, attempting to hide their livestock, and recording appeals to Putin. Officials offer little explanation for their actions. Conspiracy theories are spreading nationwide. "Novaya Gazeta Europe" managed to speak with a representative of an agroholding operating in the Novosibirsk region. He claims that owners of large herds know the answer to what is happening: an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease, a highly contagious and dangerous animal illness, has begun in Russia. As long as officials do not acknowledge this, more than half of the regions will be unable to begin preventive vaccinations. Businesses fear a nationwide livestock die-off. Illustration: Rina Lu / "Novaya Gazeta Europe". Editorial Note: The material contains profanity. What you will learn from this investigation: The agroholding conspiracy doesn't seem to exist after all: large companies have destroyed thousands, and some tens of thousands, of heads of cattle; How the infection started in February and how it spread; Why farmers were kept in the dark; Why it is so important for authorities to keep it a secret; Why the epidemic could spread across Russia. — Agroholdings understood everything pretty quickly, — says a representative of a livestock farm in the Novosibirsk region with over a thousand head of cattle. The interlocutor of "Novaya Gazeta Europe" wished to remain anonymous. Authorities have already made many efforts to conceal the real reasons for the mass culling of livestock in the Novosibirsk region, despite the large-scale scandal. Therefore, anyone who reveals details about what actually happened risks incurring their wrath. Big business in Russia is heavily dependent on government decisions, and coercive methods are widely used against businesses. The account of the "Novaya-Europe" interlocutor is internally consistent. To confirm some facts, the source provided documents, and some are also confirmed by open data. This account sheds light on how the situation developed in the Novosibirsk region, why farmers were left without livestock and without any explanations from officials, and what the danger of this conspiracy of silence is. Illustrative photo. Source: Sergey Ilyitsky / EPA. How the situation in the Novosibirsk region developed from late January to March — We encountered problems starting in February, — says the agroholding representative. — Veterinarians at large enterprises regularly conduct examinations and usually quickly detect animal diseases. The clinical signs of foot-and-mouth disease are quite clear. Naturally, we all read the rules, so the sequence of actions is very simple: you call the veterinary service, and they take samples. The procedure for agroholdings is clearly defined and known to everyone. The interlocutor of "Novaya-Europe" reported that the state veterinary service soon confirmed the suspicions of the veterinarians working at the production facilities. According to him, large farms faced the fact that the only way to cope with the epidemic was the complete destruction of the entire focus even before the farmers did. They have been doing this since February. — We didn't want to kill anyone either. But then it turned out that the infection had spread beyond the region. And it spread very quickly. Unfortunately, there is still only one way to deal with this disease: complete liquidation and burning of the focus. That is, they burn everywhere — in Europe, in America. They burn here. "Large farms, according to our interlocutor, destroyed cows and pigs by the thousands. But, unlike small farms, they did this voluntarily and without attracting public attention. To confirm his words, the source provided correspondence with regional officials regarding possible compensation for damages due to forced destruction of livestock. The correspondence refers to significant sums. "Novaya-Europe" cannot disclose the figures to avoid revealing the scale of the farm in question. — So, if we are talking about an agroholding conspiracy, then we were not included in this conspiracy, — concludes the large livestock breeder. When several cases of foot-and-mouth disease were detected at large enterprises, the authorities decided to conduct studies throughout the region. — After [the detection of] major outbreaks, widespread testing began, and some kind of quarantine was introduced. That is, when they realized there were a number of outbreaks, they started checking all the houses, — says the agroholding representative. — And then they went specifically to those with positive test results. Indeed, in early March, quarantine began to be declared in some villages of the Novosibirsk region. Roads were blocked by checkpoints, but no official document on the introduction of restrictions was published anywhere. Officials, in conversations with local residents, referred to them as for internal use only. From the very beginning, officials decided to maintain a heightened level of secrecy. Checkpoint at the entrance to the village of Novopichugovo during quarantine, Novosibirsk region, March 17, 2026. Photo: Alexander Kryazhev / Sputnik / Imago Images / Scanpix / LETA. Why it is so important for officials to hide the epidemic In May 2025, Russia received the status of a country free from foot-and-mouth disease. This helps Russian exports, and the country does not want to lose it. This status is granted by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) — an organization under the World Trade Organization (WTO), of which Russia has been a member since 2012. — What's the point of all this secrecy? — says our interlocutor. — It's about the fact that the country has certain international obligations that we have violated. As a member of the WTO, Russia is obliged to report confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease in domestic animals. And from that moment on, the country loses its status as disease-free. The order of the Ministry of Agriculture indeed obliges any laboratory to notify the OIE of foot-and-mouth disease cases within 24 hours. This order is based on the International Animal Health Code, which Russia has signed and ratified. If there is an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in a country, other countries may ban the import of meat and dairy products from it. Russia itself does the same: for example, in 2025, Rosselkhoznadzor banned the import of meat products from the EU due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. At the same time, the pace of Russian meat exports has been steadily growing recently. Thus, in 2025, Rosselkhoznadzor recorded a historical maximum, with 820,000 tons of meat products exported abroad. The main importing countries include Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, and the Middle East. An epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease, if confirmed, could significantly impact Russian meat producers. — For the pig industry, exports are currently a major incentive because Russia's self-sufficiency in meat already exceeds 100%. World markets provide opportunities for companies to grow and increase profits. In addition, exports allow less sought-after parts of the carcass in Russia to be sold at more favorable prices, — "Novaya-Europe" was told at the National Meat Association. — Restricting such exports would be a serious blow to the industry. [The status of a country free from foot-and-mouth disease] is important for any country, not just Russia. Moreover, if the OIE status is lost, it is not so easy to regain it. Commission meetings are held once a year. In addition, it is necessary to first eliminate the outbreak, then conduct mass vaccination, prove that there are no new outbreaks for a long time, and collect a huge package of documents. This can take several years. — I am struck in this story by the scale of the efforts aimed at preserving this status. One can fight so hard only for something one is very interested in for some reason. And here we are primarily thinking about large meat exporters, for whom this is important, — says the agroholding representative. „ — We have never in our lives seen our Ministry of Agriculture and our respected comrades fight for something like this. However, while helping Russian exports, officials have driven small farms in several regions of the country to despair. — In fact, we don't know what the situation was with small farmers, — says the source in the agroholding. — Small farmers did not report problems with their livestock to the veterinary services themselves. Perhaps this is due to the peculiarities of how foot-and-mouth disease manifested in the Novosibirsk region. Illustrative photo. Source: Sergey Ilyitsky / EPA. Why did such a scandal erupt in the Novosibirsk region The situation began to spiral out of control in the first weeks of March when authorities started visiting small farms. Officials provided almost no public explanation for their actions. From fragmented information from the farmers themselves, the following picture can be reconstructed: initially, veterinarians came to the farms and took samples without much fuss — this did not raise particular questions among local residents. Some farmers also say that mass vaccinations were administered to the animals. State services did not explain what they were for, and farmers did not particularly inquire. Then, quarantine was imposed in some villages, and entry and exit were blocked. The culling began. Livestock were destroyed in the absence of their owners, forcibly taken away with the help of the police. Farmers were not shown any documents, and in conversations, they referred to an epidemic of pasteurellosis (another common animal infection) or rabies. Pasteurellosis has since become the main official version of officials across Russia. However, pasteurellosis is a relatively harmless infection that is easily treated with antibiotics and does not require culling of animals (except for birds). This is confirmed by numerous experts, and it is stated in the order of the Ministry of Agriculture itself. A veterinary service employee disinfects a car in the village of Novopichugovo, Novosibirsk region, March 17, 2026. Photo: Alexander Kryazhev / Sputnik / Imago Images / Scanpix / LETA. In the absence of clear explanations from officials, farmers tried to hide their livestock, recorded video appeals to the president, and threatened to burn themselves along with their animals. During the culling, both the livestock owners and the veterinarians who came to kill the cows became ill. Officials arrived at the culling sites with police and riot police. The most active villagers who tried to stop the killing of cows were detained. „ — Officials handled it very poorly. I can't imagine how one could handle a region so poorly. It's a complete disaster, — assesses the actions of the Novosibirsk authorities the agroholding representative. — Initially, they wanted to do everything as quietly as possible, so that the fire was small and no one noticed anything, — says the "Novaya-Europe" interlocutor. — No one expected such a scale. They did not expect such rapid development because animals in the Novosibirsk region are regularly vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease. One of the theories that was widely spread on social media even suggested that the cause was low-quality vaccines. But the agroholding representative says the reason is different. A new strain of the disease has arrived in the region, which has not been present in Russia before, and the vaccinations are ineffective against it. Veterinarian epidemiologist, Candidate of Veterinary Sciences Svetlana Shchepkina also expressed this opinion in a conversation with the publication "Takie Dela". According to the "Novaya-Europe" source, animals tolerate this new strain of foot-and-mouth disease differently than other types, more easily. — Why are the peasants, why are the farmers so worried? They say: they are taking away our healthy animals! What do the peasants see on their farms: the animal is absolutely healthy, milk yield is not falling. I understand why they are in shock: your cow had a fever for three days — and that's it! She has no other symptoms. And yet, some people came, took samples, said nothing. Then they came and said, like, we are confiscating the livestock and liquidating it. Of course, damn it, it's hysteria! According to another version, animals in the Novosibirsk region are experiencing foot-and-mouth disease milder than usual, not so much due to the strain's characteristics, but because the vaccine regularly used in the Novosibirsk region worked well. — It's like with flu or COVID in humans: vaccination makes the course of the disease milder, — paraphrases the agroholding representative another version that is informally discussed by veterinarians and officials. At the same time, even animals that have recovered from foot-and-mouth disease but did not die remain carriers of the disease for a long time. Scientific articles indeed state that vaccination can contribute to a milder course of the disease. It is impossible to definitively determine why the disease is spreading so rapidly and progressing without the usual severe symptoms without laboratory studies, and these are classified. The heightened secrecy chosen by officials has not only led farmers to rebellion. It creates large-scale risks that could lead to a nationwide livestock die-off. To understand this, one must understand how the OIE's regional classification for foot-and-mouth disease works. The Danger of Official Silence The infection has long spread beyond the Novosibirsk region. Farmers in the Altai Republic, Penza, Tomsk regions, and Transbaikalia have complained about mass livestock culling. Authorities in Tatarstan recently let slip that foci of a "dangerous infection" have been identified in 15 regions of Russia. In reality, the scale may be even larger. "Novaya-Europe" analyzed reports in regional Telegram channels and local media. According to our analysis, information about a "dangerous infection" or an "epidemic of pasteurellosis," which authorities have chosen as an official euphemism for the real disease, has appeared in the news in at least 18 regions. But the greatest danger is that foot-and-mouth disease could spread to the northern and central regions of Russia. They have a special OIE status, which, on the one hand, is the most advantageous for export, but on the other hand, leaves animals defenseless against infection. Thus, the OIE can assign a country one of three statuses: a country not free from foot-and-mouth disease; a country free from foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination; a country free from foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination. There are also statuses at the regional level. Thus, by the decision of the international OIE, Russia as a whole is a country free from the disease, but 55 Russian regions are free from foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, and 33 regions are recognized as free but must carry out vaccination (the latter include the Novosibirsk region). The status of "no vaccination" is the most favorable. It allows regions to export any meat or dairy products, including those not subjected to thermal processing. On the other hand, according to OIE rules, vaccination is strictly prohibited in such territories. The fact is that many foot-and-mouth disease tests cannot distinguish between a real infection and a vaccine administered to an animal. — To protect the entire livestock population in the country, vaccinations are needed now! — says the "Novaya-Europe" source in the agroholding. — And of course, the fact that we now have regions where vaccination of all farms is prohibited is very frightening. That is, the owner, in principle, wants to vaccinate everyone everywhere, in all regions, to provide at least some protection. But this is not allowed again, because of the status. There are attempts to informally persuade officials to conduct vaccination in all regions. But so far, there has been a complete refusal. — Everyone is afraid. Everyone is very afraid that there will be a mass livestock die-off, — says the livestock breeder. — At the same time, there is some belief that we will contain all this now and continue to live as if nothing happened, and nothing terrible will happen! But if it spreads to regions where animals cannot be vaccinated, it will be a complete disaster. It will be possible to close the business altogether. With the participation of Alexey Stepanov and Alesya Sokolova.