Ex-CIA Officer Urges Skepticism of Russia's Account in Siberian Researcher's Death
A former CIA officer warns that Russia's history of deception makes its official explanation for a researcher's death at a Siberian pathogen lab difficult to trust, as U.S. and WHO officials seek more information.
A former CIA officer is urging caution over Russia's official explanation for the death of a 28-year-old researcher at a Siberian laboratory that houses dangerous pathogens, saying Moscow's long history of deception makes its account difficult to trust.
Glenn Corn, who spent more than two decades overseas during his intelligence career and is fluent in Russian, told Fox News Digital that the Kremlin's record of coverups undermines confidence in its statements about the case. Darya Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, fell ill near the end of September.
After unconfirmed reports that she had died from pneumonic plague spread widely on social media, Russian authorities pushed back. They said Shipilova died on Oct. 2 from «pneumonia of unknown etiology» and that testing found no evidence she had been infected with a pathogen from her laboratory.
Corn said the challenge is rooted in what he described as a «boy who cried wolf syndrome» in Russian official messaging. «They have this history of being deceitful. It's very hard to believe what they're saying,» he said.
He pointed to the 1979 anthrax outbreak in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg, which killed at least 64 people. For years, the Soviet Union attributed the deaths to intestinal anthrax from tainted meat. It was not until 1992 that President Boris Yeltsin admitted the illnesses resulted from military activity at a nearby biological weapons facility.
Corn said that dedication to deception remains a feature of the current government under President Vladimir Putin. He cited the Kremlin's past denials of ties to the Wagner mercenary group, whose murky relationship with the state allowed its fighters to advance Moscow's interests overseas while Russian officials maintained plausible deniability. Putin later acknowledged that the group had been 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 said.
He added that this style of narrative control is also characteristic of China, which remains under Communist Party rule, while modern Russia inherited many institutions and governing practices of the communist-led Soviet Union. As an example, he noted that China faced criticism in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic for withholding or delaying critical information about the emerging virus, which has gone on to kill more than 7 million people globally.
«In both systems, people are disincentivized to tell the truth when there's a bad story,» Corn said. «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.»
With that history in mind, Corn said U.S. officials should not simply take Moscow at its word on Shipilova's death, but should independently verify its claims and closely monitor for any signs of a wider outbreak.
So far, there is no sign that Shipilova's illness has spread. Russia's health watchdog said Tuesday that 60% of the roughly 200 people quarantined after potentially coming into contact with Shipilova have been released. It added that no cases of plague have been found.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the case presented a «very low» risk outside Russia. That same day, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that the global health agency is in contact with Russian health authorities and has requested more information «to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia» that killed Shipilova.
President Donald Trump also told reporters on Tuesday that he has a call scheduled with Putin about the case «very soon,» adding that the U.S. is already in «very deep discussions» with Russia.
The episode has renewed attention on the transparency of Russia's biological research facilities and the broader question of how much weight to give official statements from Moscow. For Corn, the answer lies in verification rather than trust. He said the U.S. should keep a close watch for any evidence that the illness has spread beyond the initial case, while pressing for independent confirmation of the facts.
«This is what the challenge is,» he said, referring to the difficulty of assessing Russian claims. «They have this history of being deceitful.»
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