Trump Calls Russia’s Suspected Plague Case a ‘Big Problem’ as Nearly 200 Reportedly Monitored

US President Donald Trump called Russia’s suspected pneumonic plague case a “big problem” on Monday as unofficial reports indicated that nearly 200 people were under observation following the death of a researcher at a Siberian infectious-disease laboratory. “I hate to see them having it,” Trump said. “It’s a disease we used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter, like an army.”JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Asked about the risk of the disease spreading internationally through travel, Trump appeared to play down the immediate threat, saying there was little travel headed toward the affected area. The White House has said it is monitoring the situation in Russia and beyond after the researcher died days after being diagnosed with pneumonia of “unknown origin,” according to a Russian health agency. Speaking on CNN, Dr. Ashish Jha, a former White House COVID-19 response coordinator and infectious-disease expert, said the circumstances surrounding the death raised “a lot of red flags.” Jha pointed to reports that nearly 200 people were under observation, that several hospitals had been locked down and that Russia’s FSB security service had become involved in the response. “That is not what you would expect from a simple lab accident,” Jha told CNN. He also raised concerns about the history of the laboratory itself, saying it is officially described as a civilian facility but has longstanding links to military biological research. Other Topics of Interest European Solidarity Expels MP Honcharenko Over War-Ending Proposals Oleksiy Honcharenko had argued Ukraine is losing the war and proposed step-by-step deals with Moscow, including a possible UN-controlled buffer zone in Donbas. Jha further said Russia has been expanding its biological-weapons capabilities, arguing that the combination of the laboratory’s history, the scale of the quarantine measures and the limited information released by Russian authorities warranted closer scrutiny. “Take those two facts, take the facts that you just mentioned, it is hard not to be concerned that there is something more going on,” Jha said. He stressed, however, that there was no confirmed evidence the researcher had been exposed to a weaponized pathogen. Russian opposition figure and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, also speaking to CNN, argued that the Kremlin’s lack of transparency made official Russian accounts difficult to trust. Kasparov said Russia was operating on a war footing and suggested the laboratory could have been involved in military biological research, though he offered no direct evidence that the researcher’s death was connected to a weapons program. “Whatever they said, they lied,” Kasparov said of Russian authorities, arguing that official statements from Moscow should be treated with deep skepticism. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst, urged caution, saying there was still no independent confirmation that the researcher had died from plague or clarity about how she became infected. “It’s hard to know until we have more information,” Reiner said, adding that early reports during disease outbreaks are often “wrong, or incomplete, or misleading.” He cautioned against jumping to either extreme – assuming the incident marked the beginning of another pandemic or dismissing it as nothing to worry about. Reiner also stressed that pneumonic plague is very different from COVID-19. The disease has been known for centuries and can be treated effectively with antibiotics when detected early. CNN separately reported that roughly 200 people were under quarantine or medical observation, while hospitals in the area had imposed restrictions and Russian officials said the woman died from severe pneumonia of unknown origin. Russian authorities quarantined people connected to the Siberian research facility after the researcher’s death, while health officials stopped short of confirming pneumonic plague as the cause. Officials in the Irkutsk region said the woman had died from severe pneumonia of “unknown origin,” even as restrictions around the facility expanded and questions grew over the circumstances of her illness. Russian authorities also publicly denied reports that pneumonic plague had been confirmed. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.