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h/t Anthony LaMesa @ajlamesa [Some detailed local reporting from Irkutsk.] ➡️ 🇷🇺 "Is it really the plague?!" - What's happening in Irkutsk and Shelekhov, where an employee of the Anti-Plague Institute died, and authorities deny plague as a possible diagnosis - Around 10:00 PM on Friday, October 2, three cars pulled up to a two-entrance brick building on Voronezhskaya Street in Irkutsk. People wearing gas masks and orange suits emerged from the vehicles. They brought several containers and began disinfecting both entrances. - "The smell was unbearable and very pungent," a woman in her forties, a resident of the building, told LB. She suspected it was a strong antiseptic. The residents opened the doors to the building because "it was unbearable to breathe." - The arrivals told the residents they were "sent by Rospotrebnadzor." "We asked what had happened. They told us: some girl died, a deadly virus," LB's interlocutor recounted. "They didn't know anything else. They said: 'We came to work, they told us to go and treat it, so we came and treated it.'" - The residents were unaware that their neighbor, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, who lived in the building, had died in the Shelekhov District Hospital on the night of October 1–2. She worked at the Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Immediately after her death, word spread throughout the Irkutsk region that she had allegedly died of pneumonic plague. - Since then, the building where Daria lived has been disinfected twice more. No one else mentioned the "deadly virus" to anyone who came. During the disinfection, the staff also wore gas masks, but this time they were wearing white protective suits. - "Their woman knocked on our door a second time, asking for some water to make a solution," says Shipilova's neighbor. "I said, 'What are you treating here?' And I already knew all about the plague rumors. She said, 'It's for cockroaches.' And we don't even have any cockroaches in our house.' And then I saw her packing her [protective] suit into a bag. I was like, 'Well, I get it.'" "A woman who may have died of the plague" - ➡️ An employee of the Anti-Plague Institute anonymously told LB that Darya Shipilova developed cold symptoms at work. ➡️ "There was no fever, but then her condition worsened, and swelling developed." - ➡️ The girl was hospitalized on September 29, and on the night of October 1-2, she died at Shelekhov Hospital. There was no official statement as to why Daria was taken there. It's likely because the hospital had previously housed a COVID-19 hospital. - ➡️ Immediately after Shipilova's death, the Shelekhov hospital was quarantined. Governor Kobzev cited a "particularly dangerous infection" as the reason. ➡️ The word "plague" was not mentioned in official statements. - On the same day, October 2, Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor and Russia's chief state sanitary doctor, arrived in Irkutsk. She took part in an extraordinary meeting of the regional sanitary and anti-epidemic commission. At this meeting, officials, doctors, and security forces approved an "operational action plan." - ➡️ Those who had been in contact with Darya were isolated and placed under medical observation. Authorities did not release the exact number of contacts. According to REN TV, there were approximately 200 (the channel deleted the posts later that day). They were placed in at least two hospitals in Irkutsk and Shelekhov. - LB's sources in law enforcement reported that those who had been in contact with her were transported in ambulances with FSB escort. - An Irkutsk resident told People of Baikal that her friend, a nurse at the Shelekhov hospital, was quarantined. "Everyone was worried there, there was a commotion among the management, which means things are bad," LB quotes the acquaintance as saying. - ➡️ The Anti-Plague Institute staff were quarantined within the research institute itself. A worker at the institution told LB: "They locked two hundred people up. They held us for three days, taking swabs twice a day. But they fed us. We slept on chairs, and for those who didn't have enough space, on jackets. I slept on my jacket. They didn't sign any documents. They released us on Sunday." -➡️ There was no official information about what happened to Darya. ➡️ On the afternoon of October 2, Irkutsk journalist Pavel Stepanov wrote that, according to his information, Shipilova "broke a test tube containing the same pneumonic plague" and "concealed this fact." ➡️ This version was widely circulated, but remains unconfirmed. ➡️ Rumors also circulated online that Darya had been in Buryatia the day before her death. - On Friday evening, October 2, the regional governor, Alexei Tsydenov, refuted the Buryatia theory. But most importantly, Tsydenov became the first official to mention the plague. The regional governor wrote that "the woman who died of the plague in the Irkutsk region" had not visited Buryatia. However, that same day, Tsydenov edited his post to include the wording "woman who may have died of the plague." "I was very afraid of infecting someone." - Darya Shipilova was born and raised in Irkutsk. In high school, she decided to become a doctor. A classmate of Shipilova's described her to LB as "smart, honest, and responsible." Other interviewees of People of Baikal, including her coworkers, also described Darya as "responsible." - "Dasha was extremely afraid of infecting anyone if something happened. This was clear from how often she washed her hands, even outside of work," says her colleague, an employee of the Anti-Plague Institute. - In the summer of 2022, Daria graduated from Irkutsk State Medical University with a degree in Medical Biochemistry. That same year, she began working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, where she had previously completed an internship. She initially worked as a lab assistant, and a year and a half later, she became a research fellow. - Meanwhile, Daria continued her studies, now pursuing a residency in Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics. Her tuition was funded by the Anti-Plague Institute. Shipilova completed her residency in 2024 with honors. She worked in the Plague Microbiology Department until at least January 2025. - "Dasha was a smart person," says an Irkutsk resident who studied in the same department as Shipilova. "Few people from our department actually get to work at the Anti-Plague Institute. I did my internship there. It's a serious facility, where everything is serious and safe." - Darya lived in a two-story brick house in a remote area of ​​Irkutsk. The area is considered disadvantaged—it was surrounded by old wooden barracks, many of the houses 60–70 years old. - Neighbors describe Shipilova as "calm," and her parents, who often visited their daughter, as "quiet and sober." Daria had a dachshund in her apartment; her father often took her for walks. - Darya was very attached to her mother. Svetlana Shipilova, like her daughter, works in the medical field. Rumors are circulating among Darya's neighbors that Svetlana "couldn't bear the loss of her daughter and died of a heart attack." However, this is not true—her mother, like other family members, is still quarantined in one of the city's hospitals. How pro-government resources published and removed information - On October 2, the pro-government newspaper Izvestia reported that following the death of Darya Shipilova in Irkutsk, a criminal case had been opened under Part 2 of Article 236 – "Violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules, resulting in the death of a person through negligence." Izvestia soon deleted this article, along with other reports about a possible outbreak of pneumonic plague in Irkutsk. - The Kazan branch of the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty deleted a story about the death of an Irkutsk lab technician, originally published on October 2. The article remained cached in the Yandex search engine. The Kuzbass version of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets deleted a story about Rospotrebnadzor denying the closure of Irkutsk hospitals for quarantine (the original was also cached in Yandex). - Not only the media but also official bodies were involved in deleting information. On the morning of October 3, the Baikalsk administration advised local residents to temporarily avoid traveling to Shelekhov due to "unofficial information" about the plague being detected there. Two hours later, city authorities removed the post. - That same day, the management of the Irkutsk Aluminum Smelter (Shelekhov's main employer) introduced a mask mandate on its premises. - "Contradictory information about the plague situation is spreading in Shelekhov," commented Director Artem Fominykh. A day later, Fominykh published a new post explaining that "the mask mandate at Irkutsk Aluminum Smelter is not related to the quarantine at the Shelekhov hospital," but is due to the increase in acute respiratory viral infections. - "All our employees know this isn't the first time, and we periodically introduce masks based on the seasonality of respiratory illnesses," the plant director wrote, calling for "no rumors." - ➡️ All day Saturday, October 3rd, there was no official statement from the authorities. Governor Igor Kobzev wrote on his Telegram channel about a forum for working youth and a meeting with the head of Roszdravnadzor. ➡️ Not a word about the supposed plague, the talk of the town. - Against this backdrop, several Irkutsk city hospitals have imposed quarantine measures. These include City Clinical Hospitals No. 1, 3, and 10, as well as the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children's Clinical Hospital. - The Irkutsk Regional Clinical Hospital has been closed to visitors since October 3, a patient told People of Baikal. "A nurse came to our ward to see a critically ill patient. Since Saturday, they've been bringing bags to everyone, and they brought them to me personally. Today, I went down to get a food delivery. The delivery person wasn't allowed past the security post." - ➡️ Over the weekend, residents of Irkutsk and Shelekhov hoarded antibiotics at pharmacies. "On Saturday, there were fights in some pharmacies," says LB, an employee of the Anti-Plague Institute. "They took away absolutely all their antibiotics! Even the oldest ones. People were panicking because the words 'plague' and 'pneumonic' were everywhere." "Listen, the situation is completely under control." - ➡️ Rospotrebnadzor (Rospotrebnadzor) only issued an official comment on Sunday afternoon, October 4. The agency told TASS that ➡️ the Anti-Plague Institute employee had suffered from "pneumonia of unknown etiology." They also added that no emergencies involving pathogenic microorganisms had occurred at the institute. Rospotrebnadzor, however, did not publish any press releases on its websites. - According to Rospotrebnadzor, the institute's employees did not seek medical attention for infectious diseases. However, two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus infection were detected among those who had contact with Daria. - "Pneumonia of unspecified etiology" means that the patient was diagnosed with pneumonia, but doctors were unable to identify the specific microorganism (bacteria, virus, or fungus) that caused the illness. Rospotrebnadzor did not explain this in its statement, nor did it comment on why hundreds of people were quarantined for pneumonia. - On the evening of October 4, Governor Igor Kobzev echoed Rospotrebnadzor's announcement on his Telegram channel. The following day, he emphasized that "the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Irkutsk and the Shelekhovsky District is currently stable." - On Monday, October 5, Kobzev said in a video commentary : "Listen, the situation is completely under control. It's unpleasant, of course, but doctors and Rospotrebnadzor have done everything possible to ensure that all of them [the contacts] are under observation. The city is living its own life, Shelekhov is living its own life." - That same day, Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, urged people to listen only to official statements from Rospotrebnadzor and not to trust rumors and internet speculation about the plague. - "Rospotrebnadzor is there, staffed by highly qualified professionals in this field. Let's listen to their official statements," the Kremlin spokesman said. - On October 5, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States was ready to assist Russia in connection with the suspected outbreak of pneumonic plague. Trump noted that in Russia, the disease is "called pneumonia." - On October 6, the Shelekhov District Administration commented on Trump's proposal. Deputy Mayor Elena Sofyina said: "I believe it's necessary to respond directly. We can handle it ourselves. The situation is under complete control." "We went into quarantine just in case." - Authorities assure that there is no plague in the region and hospitals are operating as usual, but ➡️ quarantine measures remain in place. On October 5,  restrictions were announced at the Irkutsk Psychoneurological Dispensary. A source at LB called it "something like a quarantine": "They say it was imposed just in case." The restrictions at the dispensary were not officially announced, and no notices were posted. A patient learned of them from a security guard when he tried to go to the store. - A pass system has also been introduced at the Irkutsk Perinatal Center. Blogger Ulyana Gavryunina reported this on social media and confirmed it to LB. On October 5, she arrived for a checkup with a doctor. Her mother, who was accompanying her, was not allowed into the maternity hospital. Since Friday, the center has been restricting access to anyone except pregnant patients. - "[The hospital] explained that there's unconfirmed information about a virus that could be even more dangerous than coronavirus, and that it's unclear what kind of virus it is and how to treat it, since the children are young. That's why they imposed a quarantine. And how long it will last is unclear," Ulyana told LB. - At the entrance, Ulyana's temperature was taken and she was asked to show her tongue. The center's staff gave her two health checklists to fill out. One of them was titled "Checklist for suspected cases of the highly infectious disease 'Plague.'" - The checklist included questions about health: how the pregnant woman was feeling, whether she had been in contact with someone who had arrived from abroad or was sick, whether she had a fever or nasal congestion. - During the quarantine, the center prohibited partner births. For this reason, Ulyana decided to give birth at the center on a paid basis. Now she's considering terminating her contract and wants to give birth in her hometown, Angarsk, because Irkutsk "feels somehow unsettled, very inconvenient and unsettling, it's lost its meaning." In Angarsk, however, "everything is calm"—both in the city and at the maternity hospital. - ➡️ An employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute believes the city's hospitals have been quarantined "just in case." "Our scientists are working around the clock right now. They're constantly receiving supplies. Because everyone admitted to the hospital with any signs of a cold is swabbed [for plague] and tested. This applies to absolutely all hospitals." "There are still no final death figures." - The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute is not officially commenting. ➡️ An employee of the institute doesn't believe Daria broke a test tube in the lab: "That doesn't happen here. ➡️ But even if she did, there's an isolation room, isolated clothing. Nothing would happen at all." - A classmate of Shipilova's who interned at the Anti-Plague Institute shares this opinion: ➡️ "Besides the high security measures, everyone there is vaccinated against the plague—even the students who come for the internship." The medic adds, "I can't even theoretically imagine what could have happened there." - ➡️ The Anti-Plague Institute staff have already been released from quarantine. "They've been swabbing everyone for three days straight, but everyone is absolutely healthy. ➡️ We're working a normal day today," one of Shipilova's colleagues told LB on Monday, October 5. "The situation is calm." - In an anonymous conversation, she repeatedly emphasized that "there's still no final data [on the cause of Daria's death]." "The investigation is still ongoing, and there are no results at all. ➡️ The cause of death is still being determined. Everything will settle down in a week, when the results are ready." "The theory that there was no outbreak is unconvincing." - ➡️ A Russian clinician (who asked to remain anonymous – LB) tells LB that he sees two possible versions of what happened. ➡️ Either the plague (or another particularly dangerous infection) was indeed diagnosed in Darya Shipilova, but "it was contained and they decided not to talk about it publicly." ➡️ Or the authorities and medical professionals don't yet know for sure what happened, are "conducting an epidemiological and laboratory investigation," and are afraid of "panic and liability." - The source believes the theory that there was no outbreak is unconvincing. "A young employee of the Anti-Plague Institute suddenly falls ill with a severe infection and dies quickly, after which the hospital is closed, and the institute staff and their relatives are quarantined. An epidemiological investigation is then conducted. This doesn't prove the plague, but it gives journalists sufficient grounds to investigate this theory." - What happened at the Anti-Plague Institute? The doctor suspects that "some potentially significant epidemiological event" did indeed occur. This is supported by the internal investigation and the isolation of a large number of employees. Perhaps Daria herself didn't realize she was at risk. Or she knew about the incident but didn't appreciate its seriousness. - Our interviewee is skeptical of Rospotrebnadzor's statement that Shipilova's illness is "not related to her work." ➡️ Final laboratory confirmation will take up to ten days. This time will be spent testing the deceased woman's blood, sputum, tissue, and other samples. - “It is impossible to definitively identify the pathogen within one day of the autopsy,” the clinician emphasized. - A classmate of Daria Shipilova's, who interned at the Anti-Plague Institute and works at an Irkutsk hospital, made the same statement to LB. She called Rospotrebnadzor's official statement regarding "extended laboratory testing" of the deceased girl "a rather vague statement." - "It all depends on the research method. And ➡️nowhere was it reported what specific analysis was performed." "I saved these patients, but my daughter was ruined." - ➡️ On October 5, 64-year-old Svetlana Shipilova, Darya's mother, was still in quarantine at an Irkutsk hospital. Shipilova told the publication "Glubina" that she was being tested and swabbed every day. "They're checking for something, looking for something. Maybe they're afraid of some other infection, so we don't catch COVID." - Shipilova stated that on October 5th, she still hadn't received the official death certificate for her daughter. "I'm waiting for it to be official," she added. "Not just in the media, but from Rospotrebnadzor. It has to be an official document." - Svetlana says she's "really struggling" and doesn't want to "read nasty things about the child": "I know the truth. I'm fending off stupid friends who believed all this. Smart ones, of course, didn't. ➡️ Not all doctors even realize that a test tube is unbreakable. Even if you throw it against a wall. Only an amateur could say that. Even hypothetically, it's simply impossible to spill or break. They're so protected." - Daria's friends also don't believe she could have broken the test tube. "They've smeared a woman without properly investigating," says Shipilova's classmate. Daria's friend tells LB: "It's impossible to connect this whole story to Dasha; it's as if they're talking about someone else. Knowing how hardworking and responsible she was, it just doesn't add up for me." - Svetlana Shipilova calls her daughter a "hard worker": "A pure, such a pure person. It's hard for her boss because she knew Dasha and knew why she was hiring her. It's very difficult to get into the Anti-Plague Institute. She watched Dasha work; she had done an internship there. She realized she was a pure person, such a workaholic," she says, adding, "I've saved more than one patient like that, but my daughter wasn't saved. My daughter was simply ruined." - Darya wasn't buried, and the date of her funeral is unknown. "Who's going to bury her if we're sitting here in prison?" asks Shipilova's mother. - ➡️ Darya's neighbors are worried that they weren't tested. "I've been getting calls from the clinic every day since Friday, asking how I'm feeling. They say if you have symptoms, you should see a doctor. But no one says anything—what illness it was, or what the situation is. It's as if we don't exist. ➡️ We're shocked we weren't quarantined; we're all contacts. We probably shouldn't go to work; we should stay home." - Residents who were not home during the disinfection were left a notice on their door. "Due to a significant increase in cases in your building," they were asked to call the phone numbers listed on the notice. Specifically, the number listed was for the internal medicine department of Irkutsk City Hospital No. 10. - At the same time, residents with whom LB journalists spoke say that they feel well and have no symptoms. "Shelekhov is not experiencing any panic" - The city of Shelekhov, where Darya Shipilova died, "isn't experiencing any panic," as one of its residents tells LB. We arrived on a weekday, after the governor had already declared the situation stable. Mothers with children were strolling in the city park, and teenagers were riding bicycles. In the stores, the shopping center, the city cafe, and the park, no one was wearing masks. A few were seen on buses, mostly on elderly women and children. - The city café is crowded during lunchtime. Only from one table, where two women are dining and conversing in hushed tones, does the word "plague" ring out. Everyone else is talking about random topics. - ➡️ The reception area at the Shelekhov Polyclinic is full of visitors: business as usual. The receptionists sit at desks, while visitors sit opposite them. There are no protective glass screens between them. The electronic registration system is malfunctioning, the terminals freeze, and then they hand out tickets in stacks. Because of this, the process is taking a long time. Since October 2, only blood sampling has been suspended. A notice still hangs in the procedure room: "Due to the quarantine, there will be no blood sampling," followed by five exclamation points. The reception desk has no idea when sampling will resume. - The inpatient department—a four-story brick building on the hospital campus—is tentatively closed until the end of the week, according to reception staff. - The plastic windows were open, but no patients were visible near them. The door was also wide open. A trash can on the threshold and a mop handle in the doorway were meant to deter visitors from entering. There were no quarantine notices, only a warning about access control. - A security guard in a black uniform came out to us. For protection, she was wearing a regular mask from the pharmacy. - "Is it really the plague?" the journalist asked her. - "Who's going to tell us? We only read everything online. It's a particularly dangerous infection, that's all," the employee replies. - ➡️ There's a pharmacy attached to the hospital. A journalist asks for antibiotics and explains bluntly: I want to keep some at home in case of a plague epidemic. The pharmacist isn't surprised, first offering the medication for 680 rubles, but then sells the cheapest one for 100. The antibiotics are available, but there's no rush. - Another pack of inexpensive antibiotics was sold at a pharmacy on the other side of town, without a prescription. There's a sign on the pharmacy door about masks being required, but the pharmacist isn't wearing one. The sign has been there since 2020, the pharmacist says, laughing conspiratorially: "But I didn't wear a mask back then either." - But at the entrance to the Irkutsk Aluminum Smelter (IrKAZ), even the janitors are sweeping leaves wearing masks. This is the city-forming enterprise in Shelekhov; a mask mandate was introduced there on October 3rd by order of the plant's director, and it has not been lifted. - The shift ended, and all the workers filed toward the checkpoint. They all wore masks and only took them off once they exited the factory grounds, past the barrier. By K. Pronina , A. Ivanov, V. Maryina , M. Vogel baikal-journal.ru/2026/10/06…