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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would speak very soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin following reports that a laboratory technician died from pneumonic plague in Siberia.
Washington and the World Health Organisation have both demanded complete transparency from Moscow regarding the incident at a plague research institute in the Irkutsk region.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russia to share full details with the international community, while the State Department sent a confidential diplomatic démarche reminding Moscow of its international health obligations.
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Trump confirmed at the White House that he plans to discuss the situation with Putin “very soon,” noting that US intelligence agencies are actively investigating the matter.
The global concern follows reports from Russian news outlet People of Baikal, alleging that 28-year-old technician Darya Shipilova contracted pneumonic plague after a test tube broke in the lab.
Reports also indicate that authorities placed up to 200 of her contacts under quarantine.
Pneumonic plague is an aggressive bacterial infection that causes lung failure and spreads easily through respiratory droplets.
Russian authorities strongly deny these claims and reject reports of any emergency measures.
Health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor dismissed online documents about special protocols as fake news, while Irkutsk Regional Governor Igor Kobzev stated that postmortem tests showed Shipilova died of an undetermined case of pneumonia unrelated to her lab work.
Despite Russia’s assurances that no plague cases exist in Irkutsk, WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Moscow to provide comprehensive data to clarify conflicting reports.
In response to US offers of assistance, Russian officials deflected by citing worsening measles outbreaks in the United States and offering to help Washington instead.
