Biological Properties and Molecular-Genetic Characteristics of African Swine Fever Virus Isolated in Various Regions of Russia in 2016–2017

African swine fever virus (ASFV) isolated in 2016–2017 from domestic pigs and wild boars in eight regions of the Russian Federation has comparable biological characteristics: it is virulent, causes the death of animals with signs of acute and overactive forms without the manifestation of a complete symptom complex of clinical and pathologic symptoms, possesses hemadsorption and accumulates in the initial (swine leukocytes, SBM) and transplantable (A4C2/9k) cell cultures in titres 5.5–7.5 and 3.5–5.25 log HAU/50cm3, respectively. The studied isolates belong to the eighth serotype and the second genotype. According to these indicators, the ASF virus is comparable with the virus isolates circulating in Russia since 2007.