Russia’s food safety watchdog has been disrupted by a cyberattack, affecting shipments of meat, milk, and baby food across the country.

Rosselkhoznadzor is the name of the federal agency that supervises food certification. Hackers launched a large DDoS attack on 22 October 2025 that briefly knocked the Mercury platform offline, which is a system used to approve shipments of animal products.

The outage caused by the DDoS attack lasted several hours and forced companies to stop deliveries, despite official claims that operations are running normally.

Cyberattacks fueled by Russian Aggression

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned cyberspace into yet another battlefield. Moscow’s military campaign also includes coordinated cyberattacks against Ukraine’s government, power grid, and financial sector.

As the aggressor, Russia has used cyberattacks against civilian and governmental infrastructure, but the tables have turned, at least in this case.

What Happened: Food Shipments Frozen

The Rosselkhoznadzor’s official Telegram statement seems straightforward:

“The information systems of Rosselkhoznadzor are undergoing a large-scale DDoS attack. There is no threat to the integrity or confidentiality of the data processed.”

The agency says the assault started at 8:40 am Moscow time and telecom operators Megafon, Rostelecom, and Intellex helped them filter the malicious traffic.

Companies using Rosselkhoznadzor’ services paint a very different picture, however. A dairy company told Shopper’s Media that the Mercury system didn’t work for several hours, which made it impossible to issue veterinary certificates.

A baby food manufacturer quoted by the outlet said:

“Half of today’s production never reached the market because Mercury was unavailable.”

Some retailers refused to accept deliveries without certificates, forcing suppliers to postpone distribution and throw away perishable goods.

Official Denials, Real-World Chaos

Rosselkhoznadzor stood by the statement that operations are continuing normally. On the same day, the agency claimed it had processed “more than 14.5 million veterinary certificates.”

Yet reports showed that companies in several regions could not access the Mercury platform for many hours.

A Pattern of Attacks on Russian Infrastructure

Cyberattacks inside Russia have multiplied since its invasion of Ukraine:

• In March 2022, pro-Ukrainian hackers defaced Russian state-TV websites and leaked internal emails from energy firms.
• In 2023, cyber-sabotage hit parts of Russia’s railway network.
• In 2025, Russian investment and analytics platform Investment Projects has confirmed it fell victim to a major cyberattack from a Ukrainian hacker group.