Former CIA Officer Urges Caution on Russian Account of Researcher's Death

A former CIA officer has expressed skepticism regarding Russia's official account of the death of a researcher at a facility handling dangerous pathogens, citing Moscow's long-standing pattern of deception. Glenn Corn told Fox News Digital that Russia's history of dishonesty makes it difficult to accept the Kremlin's explanation for the death of Darya Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

Shipilova fell ill near the end of September and subsequently died on October 2. While unconfirmed social media reports suggested she succumbed to pneumonic plague, Russian authorities stated she died from "pneumonia of unknown etiology." They also asserted that tests found no evidence she was infected with a pathogen from her laboratory.

Corn, who spent over two decades in intelligence and is fluent in Russian, highlighted the "boy who cried wolf syndrome" associated with Russian official statements. He pointed to the 1979 anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), which resulted in at least 64 deaths. For years, the Soviet Union maintained the outbreak was caused by tainted meat, but it was not until 1992 that then-President Boris Yeltsin admitted it stemmed from military activities at a biological weapons facility.

This tendency towards secrecy and narrative control, Corn suggested, persists under President Vladimir Putin's administration. He drew parallels to the Kremlin's initial denials of ties to the Wagner mercenary group, which later proved to be fully financed by the Russian state. "This goes to the strategic culture of leadership in Russia... and their fear of the rest of the world, and their belief that they have to deceive everybody because everybody is deceiving them," Corn stated.

Corn also noted similarities to China's handling of information during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that in both countries, individuals are disincentivized from revealing problems for fear of reprisal. "Nobody wants to actually say that we have a real problem and we need to deal with it because they're afraid that it will cost them their jobs, their lives, their freedom," he explained.

Given this historical context, Corn advised U.S. officials to independently verify Russia's claims and closely monitor the situation for any signs of a wider outbreak, rather than accepting Moscow's account at face value. So far, Russia's health watchdog has reported that a significant portion of individuals quarantined after potential contact with Shipilova have been released, with no cases of plague detected.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the risk of the illness spreading outside Russia as "very low." WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the agency is seeking more information from Russian health authorities to clarify the cause of Shipilova's severe pneumonia.

President Donald Trump has indicated he has a call scheduled with Putin regarding the matter soon and that the U.S. is engaged in "very deep discussions" with Russia about the incident.