(Text by Observer Network, Guo Guanghao)
Recently, the news of a suspected plague outbreak in Russia has become a focus of international attention.
On October 5th, U.S. President Trump responded to this incident publicly for the first time.
On that day, he prepared to depart from the White House for Nebraska to answer reporters' questions. One reporter directly asked, "Has Russia actually experienced a plague outbreak?"
Trump said that he thought this way, and even explicitly mentioned the word “pneumonia plague” – “the pneumonia plague, you call it plague”.
Trump said, “I don’t want to see them face such a situation. It’s a very complicated disease. You know, in the past we could control this disease, but for some reason, those microorganisms have become stronger and smarter, like an army… But we will provide assistance. We are willing to help anyone who encounters this problem. Right now, we haven’t done so yet. It’s still early, and we have just learned about this situation, but we will consider it.”
He added one last thing: “But for Russia, this is a major problem.”
On October 6th, after returning to the White House, Trump made further statements on this matter.
He said that he has arranged a conversation with Russian President Putin. When asked by reporters how the US intelligence agencies currently assess this situation, Trump replied, “We are having very in-depth discussions. We will be able to provide updates by tomorrow.”
U.S. Secretary of State Rubicoff also made public statements on two occasions.
On October 5th, he said first, “This matter deserves our concentrated attention, but there is no need for panic.”
But by the 6th, Rubio's focus had changed. He stated that Russia "clearly has a responsibility" to provide the international community with more information regarding the deaths of staff at the Irkutsk Institute for Epidemic Prevention.
Lubio said that the United States is closely monitoring the situation ‘hour by hour’. If the actual situation is more severe than what has been disclosed, the United States has the means to provide assistance to Russia. However, before taking further action, more information is needed.
He said, “Maybe there’s really nothing wrong, or maybe it’s more serious than we think. We have no way of knowing for sure.”
In the wake of this rhetorical change, the US has begun formal pressure on Russia.
The Wall Street Journal reported on October 7 that the US has sent a diplomatic note to Russia. US officials revealed that the US has warned Moscow that Russia has not disclosed the details of the incident as required, violating its international health obligations.
American officials say that Russia provided very little information to the US regarding this strange incident, which raises concerns that infectious diseases may spread within Russia and even abroad.
The International Health Regulations, established in 2005, is a global health convention that requires countries to report to the World Health Organization within 24 hours of the occurrence of an event that could escalate into an international public health emergency. The convention also requires signatory countries to continuously provide detailed information, including laboratory test results and measures taken to contain the threat.
Russia has informed the World Health Organization about the situation, but US media still accuse Russia of not having answered some basic questions regarding this case yet, such as what specific tests were conducted.
American media also specifically mentioned an accident at a Soviet facility in 1979, which led to an anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk, Russia (now Yekaterinburg). Initially, Soviet officials claimed that these cases were caused by contaminated meat. Boris Yeltsin, who became the first president of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, later admitted to a Russian newspaper that the outbreak was the result of "military research and development."
Russian President's press secretary Peskov stated on the 7th that Russia has informed the World Health Organization about the death of a laboratory worker from the Irkutsk regional institute, in accordance with established procedures.
Peskov also stated that many reports surrounding this incident are false, and urged the public to rely on information published by the Russian Consumer Rights Protection and Public Interest Supervision Agency.
He also mentioned that there is no scheduled phone call between Russian President Putin and U.S. President Trump at present.
