Andrey Shindelov, deputy chairman of the government of Novosibirsk Region and minister of agriculture, was dismissed. The regional government’s press service reported this.
A candidate for the post of new agriculture minister will be approved on April 23.
Novosibirsk Region Governor Andrey Travnikov said the reasons for Shindelov’s dismissal were “accumulated signals and complaints in various areas of work,” “slow delivery of state support measures to agricultural producers,” and an “insufficient level of veterinary safety.”
Since February, livestock has begun to be seized and destroyed from farmers in Novosibirsk Region. Authorities explained this by outbreaks of rabies and pasteurellosis, but according to local residents, no documents were provided during the seizures and the reasons were not properly explained.
At the same time, pasteurellosis is treated with antibiotics and does not require livestock slaughter, so experts allowed that this could involve a more dangerous infection, such as foot-and-mouth disease.