First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will manage the headquarters. President Vladimir Putin told government members Monday that bird flu "was obviously approaching Russia."
"This is late February already and little time is left [before the spring migration of birds]. On the whole, experts believe the [bird] flu situation will be complicated," Putin said.
Earlier, the Russian Agriculture Ministry said it was planning poultry vaccination campaigns in areas along bird migration routes.
Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said, "We will thus fulfill a twofold task - protecting the industrial sector, and, by ensuring the safety of foodstuffs, ensuring human safety. We have a comprehensive plan of action and are working to keep the situation under control."
The minister said there were sufficient supplies of the bird flu vaccine.
Three vaccines were developed during 2005 to combat the spread of bird flu following outbreaks in Russia's European region, Siberia and the Ural Mountains. The virus affected domestic poultry and wild fowl, but no human cases were reported.
The bird flu virus has been detected in wild fowl, including migratory birds, in Russia's southern regions: the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Daghestan, Chechnya, Adygeya and Kalmykia, and the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories.
