Trump says he has call scheduled soon with Putin on plague

Skylar Woodhouse, Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Eric Martin and Jason Gale, Bloomberg News on Oct 6, 2026

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President Donald Trump said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a suspected plague case, amid growing global health concerns over the incident.

“Very soon,” Trump told reporters Tuesday when asked whether he had spoken to his Russian counterpart.

He indicated that the U.S. would have more to share about the matter. “So far, we’re in very deep discussions. We’ll be able to report about it probably tomorrow,” the president said.

Trump’s comments follow the death of a worker at an anti-plague research institute in Russia’s Siberian region of Irkutsk that led to almost 200 contacts reportedly being placed under observation. The 28-year-old laboratory worker died last week after developing severe pneumonia. Unconfirmed local news reports said the researcher may have been exposed to bacterium that causes plague after breaking a test tube.

Plague is one of the world’s most feared diseases, responsible for pandemic that have killed tens of millions of people. Today, though, human cases are rare and can usually be treated with antibiotics.

Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russia to share more information about the case. He called it concerning but also said it would be irresponsible to speculate about the situation given the limited information available.

“We encourage Russia to be transparent and share more information with the world, so that all of us can react accordingly and appropriately,” Rubio told reporters while on a trip to Iceland, adding that he hoped more details would be provided in the “next few hours and days.”

“We’re watching you very closely, and I think the whole world is watching it very closely,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on social media that the agency is closely monitoring the reports. The agency emphasized that while the case is unconfirmed, plague can be treated with antibiotics. It also said there is no indication of a broader threat to the United States at this time.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Russia reiterated that U.S. citizens should not travel to that country and that Americans currently there should leave immediately. The advisory also said that U.S. government officials may face travel restrictions due to “health and security concerns.”