Trump plans Putin call as questions remain over Siberian death
The cause of a laboratory technician’s death in Irkutsk remains undetermined. Russian officials report no confirmed plague case, while the WHO says the available information indicates a moderate-to-low risk for the city.
US President Donald Trump says he plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” about a laboratory technician’s death in Siberia. The reported cause remains unclear as Washington and the World Health Organization call for Russia to provide more information.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Moscow to share information so countries can assess how to respond. France 24, citing The Wall Street Journal, also reported that the US State Department sent Russia a confidential diplomatic demarche over disclosure of details.
Russian officials say postmortem tests found no plague and the cause of death was undetermined. Irkutsk’s regional governor said an inspection found pneumonia, no microorganisms linked to the technician’s work in her samples, and no other institute staff had sought medical attention.
The WHO said Russia reported no confirmed plague case in Irkutsk and had opened an epidemiological investigation into a case of community-acquired pneumonia. Russia reported that contacts had been identified for medical monitoring and testing, with no dangerous infectious disease pathogens found in their test results.
The WHO assessed the risk to Irkutsk as “moderate to low” based on information available to it, while calling for timely and transparent information sharing under international health rules. The assessment does not establish the cause of the technician’s death.
