Farmer Pyotr Polezhaev from the village of Chernokurye in Russia’s Novosibirsk region doused himself with gasoline and threatened to commit self-immolation if his livestock is destroyed. This was reported by Darya Mironenko, a resident of the village of Kozikha.
Yesterday evening, veterinarians and police came to the Polezhaev family to euthanize the animals. The head of the family climbed onto the roof of the barn, poured gasoline over himself, and threatened to set himself on fire:
“I am Pyotr Polezhaev. I have been farming for 35 years. Yesterday they came to destroy my livestock. I doused myself with gasoline, and the vehicles turned around and left. Today I am waiting again. March 22. It is almost noon now, they should arrive again. If they destroy my livestock, I will be left without any means of survival. I will have no choice but to burn myself,” the man said in a video.
According to the family, their livestock is vaccinated and not sick. The authorities did not show them any documents stating that the animals had diseases.
The governor of the Novosibirsk region said today that for the past “seventeen days no new cases of pasteurellosis have been recorded” in the region, but that in order to stabilize the situation it is necessary to “strictly carry out all quarantine measures, including the seizure of infected livestock.”