Trump says will speak to Putin on plague, after death of Russian lab tech

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced his intention to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon about the reported death of a laboratory technician from plague. Washington has been urging Moscow for transparency regarding the incident at a plague research institute in Siberia’s Irkutsk region. Russian authorities have denied imposing anti-plague measures and downplayed the reports of the incident.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russia to share more information about the situation, and the World Health Organization also called for transparency, stating that timely, complete, and transparent information sharing is vital for assessing potential public health risks. The US State Department reportedly sent Russia a confidential communication warning that failing to disclose details violates international health obligations.

Russian news outlet People of Baikal reported that the deceased woman, Darya Shipilova, may have contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube. However, Russian authorities have not confirmed the cause of death, with health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor dismissing claims of special measures being put in place. Postmortem tests did not detect the disease, and the institute's staff did not seek medical attention since the woman's death.

The World Health Organization emphasized the importance of transparent information sharing and stressed that no case of the disease has been recorded in Irkutsk.