Trump, Putin Set for Call as Russia Probes Lab Worker’s Mysterious Death

US President Donald Trump is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” following concerns over the death of a 28-year-old laboratory researcher in Siberia. Trump said discussions were already underway and that further information could be reported soon, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russian authorities to provide greater transparency about the incident.

The researcher, Daria Shipilova, died last week from pneumonia of undetermined origin at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Her death triggered concerns about a possible case of pneumonic plague, but Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said no plague cases had been detected among people who had contact with her and that no microorganism linked to her laboratory work had been identified in her body.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was closely monitoring reports of a suspected pneumonic plague case in the Irkutsk region. The World Health Organization said the available information indicated that the public-health risk was very low, while WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Russian authorities to provide precise and transparent information about the pathogen and cause of the severe pneumonia.