Search
- What’s happening
In villages across the Novosibirsk Region (in Siberia), farmers are protesting against the mass euthanasia of cows, sheep, goats and pigs. Despite farmers’ resistance, aided by security forces, veterinarians have already euthanised dozens of animals. It’s known that even before the protests, at least 2,000 animals were killed in two districts.
Three protest participants have been detained. This included the only pharmacist in the village of Novopichugovo. They were each sentenced to two days of administrative detention. All were found guilty of organising a mass gathering of people in a public place, and the pharmacist was also found guilty of disobeying the police.
Some protesters who had travelled to Novosibirsk to submit appeals to the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor’s office were summoned to the police.
- How it all began
The animal euthanasia began back in February. Only today has it emerged that a state of emergency was also introduced in the region at that time. Officials publicly explain their actions as a response to outbreaks of pasteurellosis and rabies.
However, when visiting villages, officials refuse to name the specific disease due to which they propose to euthanise the animals. They cite a governor’s order marked “for official use.”
Farmers insist that their cows and other animals show no signs of illness. Moreover, pasteurellosis can be treated with antibiotics and does not require mandatory euthanasia. Sources at “Kommersant” in the agricultural sector have shared concerns that it may in fact be a more dangerous disease, foot-and-mouth disease, which threatens the region’s export of meat and dairy products abroad.
- What has happened in recent days
—On 14 March, Svetlana Panina, a resident of the village of Novoklyuchi who lost all her livestock, held a picket outside the office of the Novosibirsk Region governor.
“We’ve been left as beggars, with absolutely nothing, not a single means of living,” the woman said.
The Novosibirsk Region Minister of Agriculture, Andrey Shindelov, ran away from Panina when she came to his office to ask questions.
—Security forces beat up a man who was filming them and the veterinarians as they arrived to euthanise animals in Novoklyuchi, said a local resident. “They knocked him down, dragged him away by the arms. Hauled him into a vehicle and beat him up, then dragged him back out,” she reported. The man’s phone was confiscated.
—On 16 March in Novoklyuchi, the euthanasia of animals continued in residents’ private households, according to reports from “Sibirsky Express” and the Telegram channel supporting Svetlana Lada-Rus, “Agricultural Council”. Police again arrived at the scene. Locals are being prevented from filming what is happening, and mobile signals in the village are being jammed.
—Today, the authorities of Novosibirsk Region promised not only compensation at the rate of 171 roubles (US$2) per 1 kg of seized livestock, but also monthly payments to farmers and their families for nine months.
- Public reaction
Support for the farmers has even come from pro-government bloggers, for example, Viktoria Bonya. “We as people have to support one another, just everyone fucking stand up and riot, fuck it, so they get the message,” the blogger said.
The head of the Novosibirsk Region association of farmers, Alexey Salnikov, stated that he sees no violations in the authorities’ actions, as “the illness currently at issue requires destruction of all livestock… within a five-kilometre zone from the outbreak.” He added that while he feels the compensation amount initially promised by the government is small, he has already raised this concern with local officials.