Russia says it properly informed WHO of plague institute worker's death, blasts media coverage

Russia informed the World Health ​Organization about the death ​of a laboratory ‌worker at ​a Siberian plague research institute last week in line with established procedures, Kremlin spokesman ‌Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, accusing the media of providing false information about the case. Peskov was commenting on an ABC News report that ‌the United States had lodged a formal diplomatic complaint over Russia's handling ‌of the reported death, urging Moscow to provide greater transparency about the incident.

The laboratory worker fell ill and died in undisclosed circumstances, prompting authorities to ⁠quarantine ​dozens of people and ⁠dispatch the head of Russia's health watchdog to the Irkutsk region. Peskov said ⁠much of the reporting surrounding the incident was false and that people ​should rely on information released by state health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.

On Tuesday ⁠the watchdog said that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone ⁠who ​had come into contact with the deceased, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted. Peskov said no phone ⁠call had been scheduled at this point between Russian President Vladimir ⁠Putin and ⁠US President Donald Trump, who said on Tuesday that he would speak to Putin "very soon" about the case.