President Trump said Tuesday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” about a lab worker’s death in Siberia.
Trump, 78, told reporters at the White House Tuesday evening that a call with Putin was already on his schedule. The conversation would address the death of Daria Shipilova, 28, a lab technician who died Friday at a hospital outside Irkutsk after reportedly breaking a test tube containing a deadly pathogen at the nearby Anti-Plague Research Institute.
“I have a call scheduled very soon,” Trump told reporters Tuesday evening at the White House.
The president indicated that U.S. Intelligence agencies were actively investigating the circumstances surrounding Shipilova’s death. Asked what those agencies were telling him, Trump said:
“So far we are in very deep discussions. We will be able to report about it probably tomorrow.”
Shipilova’s death has fueled speculation that her illness was directly tied to her work at the institute, which handles dangerous pathogens including those that cause plague. She died after reportedly accidentally breaking a test tube containing a deadly pathogen before being infected.
The case has drawn particular attention because of concerns she may have died from pneumonic plague, a form of the disease that can spread from person to person through respiration. That form of plague is almost always fatal, though it can be treated with common antibiotics.
The incident carries additional weight given the history of Soviet biological weapons research. Soviet scientists in the 1980s successfully modified Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for pneumonic plague, to make it resistant to antibiotics for use as a biological weapon.
Trump’s planned call with Putin suggests the U.S. Is seeking direct answers from Moscow about the circumstances at the Irkutsk facility and whether any broader risks exist.
The Anti-Plague Research Institute near Irkutsk is part of Russia’s network of facilities handling especially dangerous pathogens, a legacy of the Soviet Union’s extensive biological research infrastructure. Shipilova was 28 years old when she died Friday.
Trump, 78, said Tuesday evening that more information would likely emerge Wednesday as discussions with U.S. Intelligence agencies continued.