Bird flu has been registered in wild fowl in six regions of southern Russia and in domestic fowl in four of these regions, the country´s agriculture ministry said on Sunday.

"Pockets of infection in wild fowl have been registered in Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Chechnya, Kalmykia, Krasnodar and Stavropol regions," the ministry said in a statement.

It added the virus had been registered in domestic fowl in Dagestan, Kalmykia, Krasnodar and Stavropol and that, in the Krasnodar region, bird flu is suspected to have hit a large poultry farm.

It did not specify the strain of the virus.

More than half a million chickens were culled in Russia this year after new cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain were discovered in domestic fowl in Dagestan.

Last year, over 600,000 birds were destroyed in Russia to prevent the virus from spreading.