Trump Plans Putin Call on Suspected Siberian Plague Case

President Donald Trump told journalists at the White House he has a call scheduled "very soon" with Vladimir Putin on a suspected plague case linked to the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. A worker died of pneumonia of undetermined cause. Trump said officials are in "very deep discussions," may report "probably tomorrow," and called plague "a rough disease" whose microbes "have gotten stronger and smarter. They're like an army." Marco Rubio told reporters in Iceland the U.S. encourages Russia "to be transparent and share more information with the world so that all of us could react accordingly and appropriately." The Wall Street Journal reported a State Department demarche on transparency obligations. Governor Igor Kobzev said a Rospotrebnadzor inspection found the cause "undetermined" and "No microorganisms linked to the young woman's professional work were found in her biological samples." People of Baikal named 28-year-old Darya Shipilova and reported possible pneumonic plague from a broken test tube and up to 200 quarantined; Rospotrebnadzor said those special-measures claims are untrue and not official. WHO said Russia reported no plague case in Irkutsk oblast and no dangerous pathogens in contacts; risk is very low beyond borders. CDC sees no broader U.S. threat. What the call yields remains open.