While the veterinary authorities tested some of the village settlements in the region when the outbreak occurred, Rosselkhoznador said that the quarantine administration for some of the rural settlements was negligent.

As part of the measures to prevent and eliminate the spread of African Swine Fever, the veterinary authorities have to account for every pig in the region.

However, Rosselkhoznador said that in the Samofalovsk Gorodishchenskoye District pigs on some private farms had not been registered.

The Peskovatsk administration was not properly equipped to carry out disinfectant programmes.

In the Svetloyarsk area the administration was not organised to properly audit the pigs in the settlements and there were discrepancies between the 2011 accounting data and the 2012 records.

Rosselkhoznador said that it had taken action against the heads of the administrative areas.

Rosselkhoznador also held a video conference for the regional veterinary offices this week including those in Karelia, Arkhangelsk Oblast and Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Komi Republic, Vologda, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Murmansk and Novgorod region to look at measures to prevent the spread of African swine fever.

The conference looked at methods of disposal of waste food and of legislation on hunting farms.

The conference found that there were regular violations of the veterinary regulations regarding hunting, particularly as it took into account the cutting and processing of carcases, and the disposal of waste products.

They found cases where animals had been processed without veterinary documents and violations of the disposal of food waste.

Rosselkhoznador said that it was particularly concerned that among those who were taking part in the conference, only the Murmansk region had developed a target programme for the prevention and elimination of the threat of African Swine Fever.

The regional offices noted the shortcomings and backed an initiative to make changes in the way that veterinary examinations are made in hunting areas and the disposal of biological waste.