For nearly two weeks, farmers in rural parts of Russia’s Novosibirsk region have been protesting the mass confiscation and destruction of their livestock by local authorities, who have cited an “especially dangerous disease” — though have refused to name it. Villagers are furious not only at officials’ silence, but at the low compensation being offered for their herds, which are often their sole source of income. The story has gone viral on social media, landing on top of a pile of grievances Russians have accumulated in recent months: rising taxes and utility bills, internet shutdowns, and the blocking of Telegram. From Monaco, celebrity and influencer Victoria Bonya has called on Russians to “stand up and rebel” — earning nearly 180,000 likes. Here’s what we know.
How it all started
The farmers’ protests broke into national headlines in early March, after residents of the villages of Kozikha and Novopichugovo — where quarantine zones and checkpoints had been set up over an unspecified “animal disease” — began blocking the vehicles sent to kill their livestock.
By that point, according to the Telegram channel Baza, thousands of cows, bulls, pigs, and sheep had already been culled — not only in Ordynsky District, where the two villages are located, but in at least three other districts as well. Sources told Baza the killings had begun as early as February.
The official explanation
The Novosibirsk Agriculture Ministry says that since the start of 2026, outbreaks of rabies and pasteurellosis have been detected across five districts — Bagansky, Kupinsky, Karasuksky, Cherepanovsky, and Ordynsky — the same areas where villagers report the mass culls. Officials blame a harsh winter that drove hungry, disease-carrying wild animals into villages, where they infected unvaccinated domestic livestock.
These explanations, however, only emerged after journalists began asking questions. Farmers themselves were given no documents or justification — just vague verbal references to an “especially dangerous disease.”
Neither pasteurellosis nor rabies requires the wholesale destruction of livestock: pasteurellosis is treatable, and rabies protocol calls for culling only visibly sick animals. Farmers insist their animals showed no signs of illness, and say no tests were conducted before the culls.
What the disease might actually be
Foot-and-mouth disease has been the dominant rumor in the quarantined villages, and for good reason: it is highly contagious and does require the culling of all cloven-hoofed animals within a five-kilometer (three-mile) radius of any outbreak — exactly the kind of sweeping measures being used here.
Yuri Schmidt, head of Novosibirsk’s veterinary and sanitary center, has denied that foot-and-mouth was detected. But the circumstantial evidence is hard to ignore. Camels, which are susceptible to foot-and-mouth, were among the animals destroyed. And Alexey Salnikov, head of the regional farmers’ association, described the cull in terms that match foot-and-mouth protocol precisely: all animals capable of carrying the virus must be destroyed within five kilometers of an outbreak. That logic does not apply to rabies or pasteurellosis.
Stanislav Sankeyev, executive director of the People’s Farmer Association, has suggested authorities may be concealing foot-and-mouth outbreaks to protect Russia’s livestock export trade — and the regional consequences are already visible. In February, Kazakhstan banned imports of livestock, meat, and milk from four Siberian regions, including Novosibirsk; in mid-March, Belarus reportedly imposed an even broader ban.
On March 16, a source for Ostorozhno, Novosti said that Denis Pasler, governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast, acknowledged at a closed meeting with dairy producers and retailers that foot-and-mouth was behind the culls — and not only in Novosibirsk. Pasler claimed the disease had entered Russia “as part of a sabotage operation,” via feed from a German manufacturer. Germany reported its own foot-and-mouth outbreak in early 2025, which had already prompted Russian restrictions on EU livestock products.
Furious farmers
Protests in Kozikha and Novopichugovo have gone beyond road blockades. Villagers have appealed to federal authorities, including the president, law enforcement chiefs, and the Ministry of Agriculture, and have secured an Investigative Committee probe into potential misconduct by regional agricultural officials.
On March 14, Svetlana Panina, a farmer from Novoklyuchi in Kupinsky District who returned home one day to find her roughly 200 animals already dead, held a solo picket outside the office of Novosibirsk Governor Andrey Travnikov, demanding the quarantine order be made public. Travnikov did not appear. Panina then went to meet regional agriculture minister Andrey Shindelov — who turned and walked away.
Beyond the lack of due process, farmers are outraged by the compensation on offer: 171 rubles ($2) per kilogram of animal weight, against a market rate of around 300 rubles ($3.50), according to Takie Dela. Some have begun slaughtering their own animals preemptively, hoping to salvage the meat before veterinarians can destroy the carcasses — though they have no legal way to sell it.
How have the authorities responded?
Mostly with threats and pressure. Several villagers were detained for blocking roads; three were held for 24 hours and seven were fined. Two journalists covering the protests were also targeted — one briefly detained, the other cited for “abuse of freedom of mass media.”
In Kozikha, one resident says social services threatened to remove her disabled son from her care after she spoke out publicly against the cull. The regional government has since begun paying compensation and promised nine months of social support for affected families, amounting to 18,560 rubles ($220) per family member.
The story has taken off on Instagram, with posts drawing thousands of comments and tens of thousands of likes. A recurring allegation is that the cull has spared the livestock of large agricultural holdings entirely. The company most frequently named is Miratorg, Russia’s largest pork and beef producer, which has faced boycott calls but insists it does not compete with small-scale farmers.
Even Russian soldiers and pro-war bloggers have chimed in — as well as influencer Victoria Bonya, posting from Monaco. “Where are they taking us? Instagram, Telegram, YouTube are all blocked. Now they want to take the livestock too. What is all this for? We won’t stay silent. I propose everyone stand up and rebel — so they know better, damn it,” she said in a reel that has drawn nearly 180,000 likes.
