The Kremlin's spokesman says Rospotrebnadzor is the lead agency on the Irkutsk illness reports and urges reliance on its official statements
Dmitry PeskovPress secretary of the President of Russia, answering journalists' questions in a conference call
On October 5, 2026, in a conference call with journalists, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked, as RIA Novosti and the Kremlin's post describe the question, whether the Kremlin is following the situation in the Irkutsk region. As RIA Novosti reported his answer, he said that Rospotrebnadzor is the lead agency competent in the matter, that people should rely on its official statements and not on rumors or speculation, and that highly qualified professionals work there. In the passages reported he did not address the cause of the illness of the institute employee. TASS and RIA Novosti reported the remarks at 09:33 UTC, and the Kremlin posted the video of the call on its Telegram channel at 10:39 UTC.
Responding to
An employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute has been diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown etiology, expanded testing of her material found no microorganisms connected to her professional activity, and a biosafety commission found no emergency situations in work with pathogenic microorganisms at the institute, Rospotrebnadzor said on October 4, 2026.
“In this case, the lead agency with competence in this area is Rospotrebnadzor. And it is Rospotrebnadzor's official statements that one should rely on, without listening to various rumors, various speculation and so on. There is Rospotrebnadzor, where highly qualified professionals in this field work (Translated from Russian. Original: В данном случае головное ведомство, которое компетентно в этой области, - это Роспотребнадзор. И именно на официальные заявления Роспотребнадзора нужно ориентироваться, не слушая разные слухи, разные рассуждения и так далее. Есть Роспотребнадзор, где работают высокие профессионалы в этой области)”
Original video
Reporting
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Where this statement fits
Did plague cause the reported death of an employee of Russia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute?
From October 1, 2026, a hospital in Shelekhov, in Russia's Irkutsk region, suspended discharge and admission in several departments. On October 2, People of Baikal reported that a woman who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute had died of plague in Shelekhov, noting that officials had not confirmed plague, and Buryatia's head, Alexei Tsydenov, referred in a post to a woman who died of plague before the post was changed to say possibly. On October 4, Rospotrebnadzor said special measures were carried out in connection with a case of illness of an institute employee, diagnosed as pneumonia of unknown etiology, that no microorganisms connected to her professional activity were found in her material, and that no emergency situations were found at the institute. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague and that many details have not been confirmed. As of October 5, 2026, we did not find a laboratory result identifying the cause of the patient's illness announced by any official or a report of a second patient. On October 5, Governor Kobzev wrote that the cause of her death was pneumonia of unknown etiology, and the World Health Organization told Newsweek that no cause of death had been officially confirmed. The disputed claim is whether plague caused her illness and reported death.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
The Kremlin's post of the video of the October 5 call, with a list of the questions and their times in the video. The Irkutsk question is listed at 03:09 and the next question at 04:07. We could not play the video, so the quotation in the statement comes from TASS as reprinted by Fontanka.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
RIA Novosti quotes Peskov and says he was answering a question on whether the Kremlin is following the situation in the Irkutsk region; the page shows 12:33 Moscow time. It prints the first sentence with a dash where TASS's text, as Fontanka reprints it, has a verb for is. It also carries the rest of the answer, including the remark about Rospotrebnadzor's professionals.
Reporting
About this source
TASS's summary of the remarks, the earliest report we found. It is TASS's wording and not a direct quotation, and it carries no link to a longer article.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Fontanka reprints the quotation from TASS and credits a screenshot of the Kremlin's Telegram video; the page shows 13:34 Moscow time. The headline refers to a plague story, which the quoted words do not mention. Expert and the Moscow Times Russian edition print the Russian verb for is in square brackets, which marks it as added by the outlet. RIA Novosti, Vedomosti and Lenta print the sentence with a dash and the word for this instead, so that verb is TASS's wording and may not be Peskov's.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Expert says the video of the call was posted on the Kremlin's Telegram channel and quotes Peskov. The page shows 16:49 Moscow time. Its headline and opening paraphrase the remarks as being about rumors of plague, which the quoted words do not say. Its quotation shows the verb for is in square brackets, which marks it as added by the outlet.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Rospotrebnadzor had said on October 4 that an institute employee had pneumonia of unknown etiology. Buryatia's head had written on October 2 that a woman had died of plague, and some outlets described that as a confirmation. On the morning of October 5, Governor Igor Kobzev wrote that the cause of her death was pneumonia of unknown etiology. We had found no Kremlin statement on the case before this call.
After the quotation
Some outlets describe the remarks as a warning against rumors of plague or as a refutation of them; the passages we found mention neither plague nor the diagnosis. As of October 5, 2026, we did not find a Kremlin statement on the cause of the illness.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the proposition that the illness of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute employee, reported to have died on October 1 or 2, 2026, was plague. Peskov answers a question about whether the Kremlin is following the situation by naming Rospotrebnadzor as the competent agency and urging reliance on its statements, without saying what the illness was, so we used Explicitly stayed out. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization, because he refers to rumors and speculation. We did not use it because the passages we found do not say which accounts he means and do not dispute plague by name.
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More from this case
Read the full caseCDC says it is monitoring a suspected pneumonic plague case in Irkutsk and sees no broader threat to the United States
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“CDC is aware of and closely monitoring reports of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region of Russia that resulted in a death.”Read statement
WHO says the reported death's cause remains unconfirmed
World Health Organization
“no cause of death has been officially confirmed”Read statement
Governor Kobzev says the employee died of pneumonia of unknown etiology
“According to their results, no microorganisms associated with her professional activity were found in the young woman's biomaterials. The cause of her death was pneumonia of unknown etiology. (Translated from Russian. Original: По их результатам сообщается, что в биоматериалах девушки не обнаружено микроорганизмов, связанных с ее профессиональной деятельностью. Причина ее смерти – пневмония неустановленной этиологии.)”Read statement
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- The Kremlin's spokesman says Rospotrebnadzor is the lead agency on the Irkutsk illness reports and urges reliance on its official statements
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The Dispute Index. "The Kremlin's spokesman says Rospotrebnadzor is the lead agency on the Irkutsk illness reports and urges reliance on its official statements". First published: 2026-10-05. Last updated: 2026-10-07. https://disputeindex.com/events/4644-on-october-5-2026-in-a-conference-call