March 17, 2026

“They seize livestock illegally.” Mass cattle slaughter in the Novosibirsk region. Authorities cite an unknown infection. Residents protest. Some activists have been detained

In several villages of the Novosibirsk region, there is a mass slaughter of cows. Local authorities claim that an infection is raging in the region, but they do not tell people what kind of disease it is. Animals are seized from farmers by force, and often in the absence of owners: a quarantine has been introduced in the villages, residents are forbidden to export milk and meat, and exits from the villages are blocked. To save their livestock, people are holding rallies and recording video appeals to the president. In response, police arrive to villagers and journalists, and the most active are detained. The publication "Veter" spoke with local residents and tells what is happening near Novosibirsk. Illustrative photo. Source: Anatoly Maltsev / EPA. The text was first published on the website of the project "Veter". "Only one road left to exit" Residents of the village of Kozikha, Ordynsky district, near Novosibirsk, have been cut off from the outside world for several days. Only one road remains for exit, which has been almost completely blocked by snow. But there are also police checkpoints on it. The rest of the exits are blocked by the authorities, a local resident Anna told "Veter". — First, they covered two main exits with snowdrifts, this was on March 7. Now the last exit is almost covered by a blizzard. A tunnel for one car has been cleared. When leaving by this road, they inspect the trunks, without providing any documents. At the entrance, they check the registration in the settlement, — says Anna. On March 6, a quarantine for pasteurellosis, an infectious disease dangerous to livestock, was declared in Kozikha. An outbreak was discovered in the local farm "Vodoley". The authorities announced that the animals there would be destroyed. But, as it turned out, the slaughter of cattle threatens all private farms. While for local residents, milk and meat are the only source of income. As Anna says, most villagers keep livestock. „ — We can count on our fingers those who do not have a farm, my family is among them, but we are fighting for our neighbors to the end. People are not going to give up, a lot of effort has already been spent on all this, — says a local resident. On March 9, residents of Kozikha went to the checkpoint and blocked the road to prevent equipment from entering the village to take their livestock. The police arrived at the meeting, and as a result, three people received subpoenas. Trying to save their livestock, the villagers recorded a video message to Vladimir Putin and the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. People say that veterinarians did not conduct any tests on their animals, and farmers consider their livestock healthy. “In every yard, villagers say that their cattle are healthy, eating, drinking actively. But restrictions have been imposed on us. There is only one entrance to the village, the rest of the exits are blocked. They covered them with large snowdrifts. We ask for help to solve this problem. We will not let anyone kill healthy cows. Do blood and milk tests, we are not against it, we will organize an independent examination. Our road and barns have not been treated. We are hostages of this trap. They are simply destroying us, ”said one of the residents of Kozikha. “Burn us along with the cows. We won't have money to pay for electricity or gas, or to feed our children. Children study in the city, we have to pay for their studies. Where do we go, where? If they come to kill our cattle, it will only be over our dead bodies. Let them kill us, death is death anyway,” says another resident of Kozikha. So far, the residents of Kozikha have managed to defend their animals, but what will happen tomorrow is unknown, says Anna: — The local authorities will not stop there. In other villages, livestock is already being destroyed. In Novoklyuchi on March 12, about 200 heads of cattle and sheep were destroyed together, during the absence of the owner. "We have been literally wiped out" Svetlana Panina, the owner of the farm destroyed in Novoklyuchi, held a solo picket on March 15 at the reception of Governor Andrey Travnikov. On March 16, she came to the administration, but could not talk to officials. — I told the secretary that I would sit here until the victorious end. I have nothing left to lose, you have made me a bum. In a month, I won't even have money to pay for electricity, you have taken everything from me. I didn't even slaughter meat for myself because I didn't think anything like this could happen – to come in the absence of the owners, euthanize all the livestock and take them to a pyre somewhere at a landfill. Allegedly due to an unspecified particularly dangerous disease, — Panina told "Veter". Svetlana Panina. Photo: Siberian Express / Telegram. Svetlana has been engaged in agriculture for 24 years. Until recently, she had 150 sheep, forty cows, two piglets, and seven goats. And also - three camels: a few years ago, friends, owners of a petting zoo, gave her a pair, a year ago they had a baby. And all the animals, including the year-old camel calf, were destroyed. — On March 12, I was not at home. A bus arrived - fifty OMON officers. They launched a drone over my territory, brought in veterinarians with the police of the Kupinsky district, there were more than twenty cars. Neighbors called me immediately. They tried to call the police, and the Kupinsky police told them: "Why are you calling us? All police units are with you." When a neighbor approached and started asking what was happening, they told her it was just exercises. And when I returned, I found that it was empty everywhere, in the stalls, in the barns, no one was there. Heartless, they fear nothing, they have nothing sacred, — recalls Svetlana. According to her, she has not yet been provided with any documents on the basis of which her animals were destroyed. Only some "particularly dangerous disease" is known. In the administration, she tried to talk to the regional Minister of Agriculture Andrey Shindellov, but he did not receive her. "I didn't deprive [you of your farm]," were the only words Shindellov said to Svetlana, and literally ran away from her down the corridors of the administration. — But I decided that I wouldn't leave. And the secretary called the chief veterinarian for the Novosibirsk region, and he persuaded me for a whole hour that I would be paid all compensations - this and that. I told him, I don't need your compensation, I need my animals, they were absolutely healthy. What they are sick with, what particularly dangerous disease, is unclear. I will go to court, I will file statements against you everywhere. And you yourselves, I say, should be in prison. All of you. Because you do not follow the law, but simply take cattle illegally, — says Svetlana. Now the Panin family is facing persecution. Svetlana was charged with an administrative offense for "obstructing veterinary measures": on March 8, Panina, with her husband and neighbors, defended her animals, when veterinarians first tried to euthanize them. And her husband is suspected of setting fire to the landfill where the cattle are burned. He faces criminal prosecution. But the Panins are ready to go all the way. — We have been literally wiped out, my husband's heart condition worsened. And today, March 16, they continued the terrorist act, they are going through all the yards in the village. They are acting with such methods: if you don't give it willingly, they will take it by force, like Panina's. I decided that I would go to court, it is impossible to restore the herd. No one will return my animals to me. I raised some of them from nipples since birth, others I nursed with my own hands, this is the work not even of a year - decades. Become a co-participant of "Novaya Gazeta" Become a co-participant of "Novaya Gazeta", subscribe to the newsletter and receive letters from the editorial office Subscribe "We have nothing to feed the children" Pasteurellosis is an acute infectious disease. The sources of infection are wild, agricultural, and domestic animals and birds. But it is well treated. In the case of rabies, a more serious disease, the mass destruction of livestock is still an extreme measure, explains to "Veter" animal rights activist Yuri Koretsky: — With pasteurellosis, you cannot kill domestic animals; they must be isolated and treated. This disease is well treated with antibiotics. Now the authorities of the Novosibirsk region say that there is both rabies and pasteurellosis in the region. And if we approach it formally, they can destroy cattle on the basis of rabies. But there has been a lot of practice - such measures were very rarely applied when mass killing was introduced. Despite the fact that rabies occurs frequently in Russia in different regions. The discovery of infection in the Novosibirsk region became known in February. The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance reported on February 6 that the region has an unfavorable status for pasteurellosis. A total of 42 outbreaks of pasteurellosis and rabies were detected in the region. Quarantine was introduced in five districts to localize them: Bagansky, Kupinsky, Cherepanovsky, Ordynsky, and Karassuksky. On March 2, the local Ministry of Agriculture announced that the pasteurellosis outbreaks had been localized. In early March, a mass slaughter of animals began. And today, according to local residents, the number of destroyed cows in the villages of the Novosibirsk region is in the thousands. At the same time, the order to introduce quarantine has not yet been published. At a meeting with residents on March 9, the head of the Ordynsky district, Oleg Orlov, reported that the order exists. But he could not show the document to the residents. And he said that he would show it to the farmers "individually." „ — People are approached without documents, without providing seizure acts, without tests, without weighing. Without anything at all. Yes, they don't even have the right to enter the yard without documents! And they enter even without the owners and destroy livestock, — exclaims Elena, a resident of one of the villages. — My parents have been keeping livestock for more than 30 years. They put all their strength into this business. Now they have about ten dairy cows. All animals are regularly vaccinated, blood is tested twice a year. All livestock are barcoded and entered into the "Mercury" program. There is all the information about the studies and vaccinations conducted. When all this mess started, the parents began to treat their territory with chlorine themselves. Only no one looks at it. On March 10, Elena's father, farmer from Novopichugovo Andrey Gavrilenko, was detained when he, along with other villagers, tried to block the road and prevent veterinarians from entering the village to euthanize the livestock. According to Elena, the authorities reported that pasteurellosis was discovered in the large farm "Kolos" in Novopichugovo. — When the cars went to "Kolos", people gathered to prevent the slaughter. After all, when they finish in "Kolos", they will go to private households. But they couldn't defend it, the slaughter in the farm continues even now, — says Elena. — And when people were standing there, a police officer started pulling a woman by the sleeve, her husband told him not to touch her. And he was arrested. Dad stood nearby and just said, "Take your hands off." He didn't touch anyone, it's visible on video that his hands are in his pockets. But at the same time, he was sentenced to two days for resisting officers. The second detainee is a local resident Maxim Vil, the only pharmacist in the village. After his detention, the pharmacy was temporarily closed. Deputy of the local rural council Larisa Vyunnikova was also detained. The Ordynsky District Court of the Novosibirsk Region gave all three two days of arrest under the article on organizing illegal stay of citizens in public places. Destruction of animal carcasses. Screenshot from video: AST-54 Novosibirsk / VK. "Knowingly false information" Ivan Frolov, a journalist from "Narodnoye Televideniye Sibiri" from Novosibirsk, filmed a series of reports in which he described in detail how livestock are being destroyed in the villages. In one of the reports, Valentina Zenkova, deputy head of the Bagansky rural council, actually confirmed that there is another, more serious disease than pasteurellosis in the region - foot-and-mouth disease. To Frolov's direct question about how long the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic would last in the region, Zenkova replied: "We know that there is such a situation, but no one specifies the deadlines. But this information is not for open conversation." Other officials interviewed by Frolov denied the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. On March 12, after the publication of the report, the journalist was detained in Novosibirsk. — Two employees of the criminal investigation department put handcuffs on me, I get into a car, we drive to the police station. There, a district police officer tells me that an investigation is being conducted under Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article concerns the public dissemination of knowingly false information about circumstances that pose a threat to the life and safety of citizens. They didn't explain what it was about, — Frolov told "Veter". He reported that he had already filed a statement with the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office of Novosibirsk. — I think the detention may be related to the mention of foot-and-mouth disease. But it wasn't I who mentioned it, but the deputy head of the Bagansky rural council. The government of the Novosibirsk region told us that there is pasteurellosis and rabies, — says the journalist. — We have a lot of questions. Because pasteurellosis is treatable, and in case of rabies, not only livestock but also carriers, including domestic animals, are destroyed. „ But how could the cattle get rabies if they are isolated in winter? And the people who keep cattle see them every day. And they claim that there were no signs of illness. On March 16, another journalist, Dmitry Polushin from Krasnoyarsk, was summoned to the police. On his Telegram channel, he spoke about the mass destruction of livestock in the Siberian regions. "Center E found out that I reposted four posts from foreign agent SOTA in the KrasNews channel and did not indicate that SOTA is a foreign agent. There will be a trial later, a fine of 2.5 thousand rubles - I am not expecting an acquittal. And there will be confiscation of equipment, which I dislike much more, — said the journalist. — I consider this unfair. I was disseminating socially important information." Illustrative photo. Source: Sergey Il'nitskiy / EPA. "There is no infection at all" If we assume that foot-and-mouth disease has indeed reached the Novosibirsk region, then the authorities may be hiding the epidemic for several reasons, notes Koretsky: — The first is reputational and political. Russia does not want to show that it has foot-and-mouth disease on its territory. And the second is practical: if they announce it, then problems with meat exports may arise. Kazakhstan and other countries where meat is exported will block exports in this case, and large holdings will lose profits. In addition, Svetlana Panina does not support the version of the appearance of foot-and-mouth disease: — As a person who has been engaged in agriculture for over 20 years, I don't believe it much. If it were foot-and-mouth disease, then animals throughout the village would get sick. Now people are inclined to believe that large agricultural holdings want to enter our market. And they need arable land for growing feed, abandoned territories, and people driven into a corner who will work for pennies. — People are unanimous in saying that there is no infection at all, — agrees Elena. — Even if you think logically: the authorities announced a quarantine zone. All animals must be isolated. Let me clarify - all of them. We, the owners of the animals, come into contact with them, consume meat and milk. If there is pasteurellosis, then we are also carriers of the infection, — says Elena. — They don't clean up stray dogs and birds - all the livestock that was euthanized is lying around, and birds are dragging it all away. There is no disinfection in the village. A quarantine has been introduced, but all people, including the employees of "Kolos", move, as they say, through the infected territory without any protection. They leave the village. The disposal of animal carcasses also looks strange, says Frolov. „ — The burning of livestock takes place at improvised landfills, simply put, in a field, not far from the villages. But in case of dangerous diseases, livestock should be burned in specially equipped pits, then all of this should be treated and covered there. And now the livestock are burned on the ground, on wooden platforms, and the wind blows it all away, — notes the journalist. According to him, it is interesting that the mass slaughter of livestock did not affect the breeding farm "Irmen", chaired by Oleg Bugakov, a member of the Agrarian Policy Committee of the Regional Legislative Assembly from "United Russia". Illustrative photo. Source: Sergey Il'nitskiy / EPA. "At least don't embarrass yourselves" The regional Investigative Committee has begun an investigation into the villagers' appeals. At the same time, the governor of the region, Andrey Travnikov, has not yet commented on the situation. Meanwhile, his social media is exploding with posts from indignant residents demanding to stop the slaughter of livestock. The authorities offered farmers compensation: they are willing to pay 171 rubles per kilogram of live meat. Despite the fact that the animals are often destroyed without being weighed, and how the compensation will be calculated is unclear, Frolov notes. Also, the local administration reported that the affected farmers could receive compensation in the amount of the subsistence minimum, which is 18,500 rubles, for nine months. — Compensation of 171 rubles is simply ridiculous. A cow costs at least 100,000, and they offer compensation half that amount, — exclaims Elena. — And that's only if there are seizure acts. But they don't provide them. And if they provide them retroactively, the pennies they promise are just tears. Now all the livestock will be destroyed, it will become many times more expensive, and no villager will be able to afford to buy a cow or even a calf. Prices for feed and hay are cosmic. And a calf still needs to be raised. They talk about 18,500 rubles per month for nine months. So, can a peasant restore his farm in nine months? These are tears that are impossible to live on. My parents' utility bills are ten thousand a month. Officials should at least not embarrass themselves. According to her, for farm owners, many of whom are pensioners, livestock is the only way to survive. „ — Mom has been crying and saying for two weeks that she wants to fall asleep and not wake up. Her pension is 14036 rubles, she has to work part-time. Everyone in the village unanimously says that there is an extermination of private farms. And people will have nothing to live on. They will have no income, they will have nothing to pay loans for, for children's education, for medicine. You understand what pensions are like in Russia. There is no work in the village, everything has long been destroyed, — says Elena. She herself lives in a settlement next to her parents, where there is no quarantine. Elena's family also keeps livestock and is ready to give it all to her parents so that they have something to live on. At the same time, the woman laments, the problems of the villagers have not been shown on any federal TV channel. Author: Yulia Sokolova