Russia on Wednesday banned the hunting of baby harp seals after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticised the "bloody practice," the natural resources ministry said.

"We have decided to ban the hunting of harp seals aged under one year," the ministry said in a statement, after an earlier ruling in February banned hunting seals aged less than a month in response to comments by Putin.

"This bloody hunting is from now on banned in our country as in most developed countries. This is an important measure to preserve Russia's biodiversity," said Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev on Wednesday.

Prized for their snow-white fur, harp seals are hunted off the coasts of Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia.

Their numbers in Greenland and Russia have declined by 60 percent in the last five years, reaching 120,000 in 2008 compared to 330,000 in 2003, according to the Russian branch of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"We are glad our ideas have met with the support of the state and that the natural resources ministry has completely banned the hunting of baby seals," a representative for the fund, Maria Vorontsova, told AFP.