The Russian government announced on Wednesday that it was open to promptly scheduling a phone call between Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin to discuss the unexplained death of an employee at a Siberian plague research center, though officials noted nothing had been finalized yet. President Trump told reporters on Tuesday night that he anticipated speaking with Putin very soon regarding the October 2 death of Darya Shipilova. The remarks followed a call from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging Moscow to provide greater transparency and share more information globally. A State Department spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow had engaged Russian authorities to request additional details. Shipilova, a 28-year-old worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute located more than 2,500 miles east of Moscow, initially prompted local media reports suggesting she had contracted the pneumonic plague via a lab accident. Russian authorities have maintained that her official cause of death was pneumonia of an unknown origin. The World Health Organization subsequently asked Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, for more information. Rospotrebnadzor reported that it had supplied further details and was easing precautionary measures in Irkutsk after concluding there was no epidemic risk. The agency stated that nearly 5,000 lab tests of roughly 200 screened contacts revealed no dangerous pathogens, and that Shipilova was vaccinated against the infections she handled. Despite these government reassurances, the lack of a clear explanation has fueled widespread rumors regarding the worker’s death and the facility’s activities. The Irkutsk lab engages in planning for potential bioterrorism incidents and response measures for biological attacks. Author and journalist Annie Jacobsen noted that international scrutiny stems from both the reported plague infection and the strict quarantine measures applied to roughly 200 people. While independent verification remains difficult due to strict information controls in Russia, neighboring countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have implemented additional border precautionary measures to guard against potential infectious disease spread.
Source: cbsnews.com
