U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” over the unexplained death of a laboratory worker in Siberia, as Washington presses Moscow for greater transparency and international health authorities monitor the situation closely.
Trump said Tuesday that a call with Putin had already been scheduled and that the two leaders would discuss the suspected pneumonic plague case. He said U.S. intelligence agencies were engaged in “very deep discussions” over the reports and indicated that Washington could provide more information soon.
The diplomatic intervention comes after the death of 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in southeastern Siberia. Russian health authorities have described her illness as pneumonia of unknown origin and have not confirmed that she died from plague.
The case nevertheless attracted international attention because Shipilova worked at a facility specializing in plague research. Around 200 people who had contact with her were placed under medical observation as a precaution, while authorities carried out testing and other public-health measures.
Russian officials say testing has found no evidence of plague among those contacts. Several people were found to have other respiratory infections, including COVID-19 and rhinovirus. Most of those placed under observation have since been released, and authorities have said there is no evidence of a wider plague outbreak.
The World Health Organization has also said it is monitoring the situation and remains in contact with Russian authorities. The global health body currently considers the broader public-health risk to be very low.
Despite those reassurances, Washington has demanded more information from Moscow. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Russia should provide greater transparency, warning that the limited information available makes it impossible to determine exactly what happened.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also monitoring the reports. The agency has said there is currently no indication of a broader threat to the United States, while emphasizing that it is prepared to respond if the situation changes.
Trump has offered U.S. assistance to Russia if necessary, adding a diplomatic dimension to an incident already attracting international scrutiny. His planned conversation with Putin could therefore become an important test of cooperation between Washington and Moscow on a sensitive public-health issue.
For now, there is no confirmed evidence of a plague outbreak in Siberia. But the combination of a mysterious death, a specialist research facility and limited information from Russian authorities has heightened international concern, ensuring that Trump’s expected conversation with Putin will be closely watched around the world.
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