Trump to Call Putin as US and WHO Push Moscow for Answers on Siberian Lab Worker's Death

US President Donald Trump has said he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin "very soon" about the death of a laboratory technician at a Siberian anti-plague institute, an incident that has triggered international concern and demands for transparency from Washington and the World Health Organization.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump confirmed that a call was scheduled when asked whether he had already discussed the matter with the Russian leader. The announcement came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly urged Moscow to be open about the circumstances surrounding the woman's death, which has sparked fears of a possible plague outbreak in Russia's Irkutsk region.

"We encourage Russia to be transparent and share more information with the world so that all of us could react accordingly and appropriately," Rubio said during a diplomatic trip to Iceland. He added that the international community's response would depend on what is ultimately learned about the incident.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the US State Department has gone a step further by sending Moscow a confidential diplomatic communication known as a demarche. The message reportedly warns Russia that failing to disclose details about the case would run counter to its obligations under international health regulations.

The case centers on a 28-year-old woman identified by Russian media outlet People of Baikal as Darya Shipilova. The outlet reported Friday that she may have contracted pneumonic plague after a test tube broke at the facility. Other Russian media have similarly raised the possibility of a link between her death and a laboratory accident. People of Baikal also reported that as many as 200 people who may have had contact with her were placed under quarantine.

Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form of the bacterial disease and can be transmitted between humans through respiratory means, making any suspected case a serious public health concern. Bubonic plague, another form of the disease, is typically spread by fleas and is less easily transmitted person to person.

Russian authorities, however, have pushed back firmly against the plague narrative. The country's health and consumer protection watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, denied claims circulating in an online document that special anti-plague measures had been imposed. "We wish to clarify that the document and information in question do not originate from official sources and are untrue," the agency said in a statement posted on Telegram.

Irkutsk Regional Governor Igor Kobzev said Monday that an inspection by Rospotrebnadzor had concluded the woman died of pneumonia, with the precise cause listed as "undetermined." He stated that no microorganisms connected to her professional work were found in her biological samples, and noted that no other employees at the institute had sought medical attention since her death. Russian officials have maintained that postmortem tests did not detect the disease.

The conflicting accounts have left international health authorities seeking clarity. The WHO said it received an update from Russia on Tuesday stressing that "no case of this dangerous disease has been recorded in the city of Irkutsk." The agency's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized on social media that timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to resolve conflicting reports and allow for an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.

According to the WHO's account of the Russian update, Moscow has launched an epidemiological investigation into what it describes as a "case of community-acquired pneumonia" in an employee at the Irkutsk institute. Authorities reportedly identified contacts and arranged for medical monitoring and laboratory testing. The update stated that test results showed no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts.

The UN health agency has assessed the risk level for Irkutsk as "moderate to low" based on the information currently available, according to spokesman Christian Lindmeier, who spoke in Geneva and said the organization is monitoring the situation closely. That assessment suggests the WHO is not currently treating the incident as an imminent large-scale threat, even as it presses for fuller disclosure.

The episode highlights the delicate interplay between national sovereignty and global health security. Under the International Health Regulations, countries are expected to report events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern and to share information promptly. When accounts diverge — as they have in this case — international agencies and foreign governments are left to weigh official assurances against unverified reports spreading online.

For Washington, the case has become a test of how firmly to press Moscow amid already strained relations. Rubio's public call for transparency and the reported demarche signal that the State Department is treating the matter seriously, while Trump's planned call with Putin elevates it to the highest level of diplomacy. The White House has not indicated what specific steps, if any, the United States might take depending on what it learns.

The Irkutsk facility at the center of the reports is part of Russia's network of anti-plague institutes, scientific bodies historically tasked with researching and monitoring dangerous infectious diseases. Such laboratories handle some of the world's most hazardous pathogens, and accidents — while rare — are a recognized risk in this field, which is why incidents there attract intense scrutiny.

For now, key questions remain unanswered: the exact cause of the woman's death, whether any laboratory accident occurred, and the true scale of any quarantine or monitoring measures. Russian officials say the situation is under control and deny imposing special measures, while the WHO's Russian-supplied information points away from a dangerous outbreak. Until more verifiable data emerges, the case is likely to remain a subject of international attention and diplomatic pressure.