Rubio presses Russia for answers over suspected plague death in Siberia
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Russia should provide more information about the death of an employee at a plague research laboratory in Siberia, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Oct. 6.
"I think it's incumbent upon Russia to obviously share more information with the world," Rubio told reporters in Iceland. "We're watching it very closely, hour by hour."
The comments came after the death of Darya Shipilova, a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov, sparked concern over a possible case of pneumonic plague and prompted quarantine and other measures in Irkutsk Oblast.
Independent Russian media reported that she may have accidentally broken a test tube containing bacteria that cause pneumonic plague while working at the institute on Sept. 25. Russian authorities have not publicly confirmed that account.
Russian officials have been evasive about the cause of Shipilova's death and have sought to reassure the public. Irkutsk Oblast Governor Igor Kobzev said on Oct. 5 that the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the region was stable.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Oct. 5 that Washington would help Russia manage its plague scare.
