The United States issued a formal complaint to the Russian government on Wednesday, asking the country to increase its transparency regarding the suspected death of a lab worker at an anti-plague research institute in Siberia.
“We have officially requested additional information from the Russian government,” the State Department told ABC News. “We are also in official communication with other countries around the world to share information.”
The complaint, known as a démarche, warns Moscow that failing to disclose details about the lab worker’s death goes against its international health obligations. The 2005 International Health Regulations require countries to notify the World Health Organization (WHO) within 24 hours of assessing an event that could become an international public health emergency. Pneumonic plague is listed as a “potential notifiable event” by the International Health Regulations.
The complaint comes as President Donald Trump prepares to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I have a call scheduled,” Trump told reporters early Tuesday evening, adding that the call would happen “very soon.” The president said he would be able to share more details from U.S. intelligence agencies about the suspected plague case on Wednesday.
President Trump is also scheduled to make an announcement at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday at the White House, though it is unclear whether the announcement is related to his planned call with Putin.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the administration is “watching it very closely, hour by hour” and warned the public not to speculate as it gathers more information.
“Maybe, you know, there’s nothing there. Maybe it’s bigger than we thought. We don’t know,” Rubio said. “But I think it would be reckless at this moment, given the limited information we still have, to speculate about what this might or might not be or what this is or what this isn’t.”
Russian officials have not confirmed a laboratory leak or that the woman who died had plague. Irkutsk regional Governor Igor Kobzev said the laboratory worker died from pneumonia of an unknown origin. The death’s proximity to the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, established by the Soviet Union in 1934 to focus on plague control, has raised concerns. The United States has accused Russia of maintaining a biological weapons program, while Russia says that the institute is a civilian facility devoted to plague prevention.
In a 2025 report, the State Department said Russia continued to work on its biological warfare program in violation of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.
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