Trump rules out biological weapon theory regarding plague at Russian lab
Washington, Oct 7 (KUNA) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday ruled out the possibility that a suspected plague case recently discovered in a Russian laboratory was linked to a biological weapon. Answering a reporter’s question on the matter in the Oval Office of the White House, Trump said, “We don’t think so. We will know the truth soon enough. But we don’t think so.” He added, “If you listen to them (Russian officials), they say the situation is under control.” The U.S. president also noted that “this kind of talk has been said before about other things. So we hope that is the case.” He continued, “They are very advanced and very smart. They insist that the situation is completely under control. So we hope that is the case.”
When asked whether he had the impression that Russia was concealing information on the matter, Trump said, “Russia doesn’t say much. But they insist that they have the situation completely under control.” He added, “We don’t think that (that Russia is hiding information), and we will know the truth.”
The U.S. president had announced yesterday that he had a scheduled call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the suspected case, noting that the United States was conducting “very in-depth discussions” on the issue. The United States had previously expressed its readiness to assist Russia in handling the situation.
Reports of the death of an employee suspected of having contracted plague at a specialized disease research institute in Siberia prompted U.S. and European demands for Russia to provide more information. Russian authorities denied any epidemic risk in the area and criticized what they described as false information circulating in the media.
Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Department at the World Health Organization, said today that the organization does not yet know the cause of the researcher’s death on October 2, emphasizing the need for more information from Russia.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) did not link the death to pneumonic plague, stating that extensive tests found no evidence that the researcher’s illness was caused by any of the pathogens handled at the institute. Russian authorities announced that she died of pneumonia, confirming that no recent cases of plague had been recorded.
According to available information, the 28-year-old Russian researcher, Daria Shipilova, was hospitalized on September 29 after developing cold-like symptoms, and died three days later. Authorities imposed a quarantine on the hospital where she died, and individuals who had contact with her were placed under medical surveillance. (End) R.S.R./H.S.S.
