President Putin merges state veterinary vaccine production in response to livestock disease outbreak and unpopular mass culling in Siberia — raising questions about disease control, vaccine independence, and the future of Russia’s livestock industry.
MOSCOW: Russia has launched a major restructuring of its animal vaccine industry after a widespread cattle disease outbreak in the Novosibirsk region triggered the mass culling of livestock and rare public protests from farmers demanding accountability.
In a decree signed on March 30, President Vladimir Putin ordered the consolidation of several state‑owned veterinary vaccine producers into a single entity — the Russian Biological Industry Company — to strengthen technological independence, drive investment in veterinary medicine, and improve disease response capacity across the agriculture sector.
Authorities have attributed the outbreak to pasteurellosis and rabies, which affected cattle herds across multiple regions, leading to the culling of thousands of animals and public discontent. The situation in Siberia was so severe that farmers took their grievances to Moscow, demanding an end to the slaughter and compensation for losses.
Despite official explanations, a March 20 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service suggested that the scale of the response may point to an unconfirmed foot‑and‑mouth disease outbreak, raising concerns about the adequacy of existing vaccines and potential consequences for Russia’s cattle trade.
Russian agricultural regulators deny these claims, asserting that planned vaccinations against foot‑and‑mouth disease have been carried out since 2022 and are monitored by the national watchdog.
Before Western sanctions imposed after its 2022 military activities in Ukraine, Russia imported up to 70 percent of its animal vaccines. Since then, domestic vaccine production has ramped up substantially, with leading producer **Shchelkovo Biokombinat — now part of the merged entity — expected to increase output tenfold in 2024 compared with 2021. The overhaul aims to reduce future reliance on imports and ensure more resilient veterinary supply chains — a critical factor for disease prevention, livestock health, and food security in one of the world’s largest agricultural producers.
