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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Putin’s Plague Crisis Deepens as Bombshell Study Is Exposed

Multiple questions remain unanswered about a lab worker’s death.

Russia is rethinking negotiations with Ukraine after Moscow got pummeled by strikes, Vladimir Putin announced in a stumbling statement to reporters. The 73-year-old Russian president appeared confused as he addressed the media in Saint Petersburg in the aftermath of Ukraine’s largest-ever drone attack on Moscow, which occurred on the last day of voting in Russia’s parliamentary elections last weekend. Putin was seemingly on edge as he spoke to reporters, at times losing his train of thought as he spoke about the strikes. “What has happened lately is also well known to everyone. On the night of Sept. 19 to 20, that is, on the main voting day, an attempt was made at a massive strike on Moscow,” he said. Last Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it shot down more than 1,900 drones, eight guided aerial bombs, eight cruise missiles, and four rockets, killing at least three people and damaging a major oil refinery in Moscow. The attack was Ukraine’s biggest one ever, though Kyiv did not confirm the number of drones and projectiles it fired. Ukrainian General Staff later said the main target was the Moscow Oil Refinery, which was forced to halt its output. “Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram at the time. He said the facilities targeted were raking in “billions of dollars that sustain the war machine.” Putin warned Ukraine that there would be consequences. "They are the ones who started it. Everywhere, on every front. Are these playthings, child's play?" Putin told reporters. "They should therefore be made to feel Russia's retaliatory strikes and understand that no provocative actions, no stirring up the situation to secure a result will work. They're only making things worse for themselves." However, Putin maintained that all of Ukraine’s proposals remained “on the table.” "They are all on the table. It's all possible," he said. "But after everything they have done, we will still have to think carefully about what we need to do in response." “Judging by everything, the retaliatory actions of the Russian armed forces turned out to be so sensitive and destructive for the enemy that now they are once again actively raising the issue of negotiations on several fronts,” he continued. Putin also appeared to be at a loss as to why Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the warehouses of Ozon and Wildberries—massive online retailers dubbed the “Amazon of Russia” that sell goods and services equal to about 8.5% of Russia's GDP, according to Reuters. “Strikes on Wildberries or Ozon warehouses—what is that? What's the point? After that, we started responding to each instance," he said.

Anastasia Barashkova/REUTERS

By Ewan Palmer

A Russian lab worker who is feared to have died of the plague had previously worked on a study testing antibiotics against the disease, it has been revealed.

Darya Shipilova, 28, died this month after falling ill with suspected severe pneumonia while working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

Mystery still surrounds Shipilova’s fatal illness, with unconfirmed reports alleging that she broke a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples for testing at the research facility. Russian authorities have said she died of pneumonia of “unknown” cause and downplayed suggestions that there is an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the area.

It has now been revealed that Shipilova co-authored research on Yersinia pestis, the bacterium found in fleas that caused the Black Death and the Plague of Justinian.

Darya Shipilova.

Russian health officials have not linked Darya Shipilova’s death to exposure to Yersinia pestis.

Telegram

The study she worked on examined whether Yersinia pestis was susceptible to various antibacterial drugs and found that it was, Healthbeat reported.

The research was presented at the annual All-Russian Congress on Infectious Diseases on March 31 at the symposium “Natural Focal and Zoonotic Infections.”

It is unclear if Shipilova was working on the sensitivity of Yersinia pestis to antibacterial drugs when she fell ill earlier this month. While the Irkutsk facility she worked at has “plague” in the name, it also researched other dangerous pathogens, such as anthrax, cholera, and tularemia.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrives for a meeting with Laos' Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN Summit in Kazan, Russia June 18, 2026.
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Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s national public health agency responsible for infectious diseases, previously reported that testing on Shipilova’s body found “no microorganisms associated with the employee’s professional duties.”

Russian officials took frantic precautions amid reports of a suspected plague death. Nearly 200 people who came into contact with Shipilova were placed under observation, and several hospitals, including the one where Shipilova was treated, were placed under quarantine.

A satellite image shows the Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, Russia, May 8, 2025. An employee of the institute, Darya Shipilova, 28, was named by Russian media as the laboratory worker who, according to authorities, died from pneumonia of an as-yet unestablished origin on October 2, 2026, prompting authorities to quarantine about 200 people and causing public health fears on social media. Google/Airbus/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

A satellite image shows the Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, Russia, May 8, 2025.

Google/Airbus/Google/Airbus/Handout via REUTERS

There has also been an outcry over claims that Russia has been trying to cover up a potential pneumonic plague outbreak in the surrounding areas.

“Something is not adding up about this situation,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University, told The New York Times. “You don’t quarantine 200 people for one plague case. You don’t close multiple hospital units in response to one infection.”

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World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is also demanding more answers from Russia amid reports that a second Irkutsk facility worker has contracted pneumonia.

“WHO has remained in contact with the Russian health authorities and has offered technical support. WHO has requested further information to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public health measures, and media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause,” Adhanom posted on X.

“Timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.”

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Ewan Palmer
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