President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. does not think the death of a Russian laboratory worker from a suspected case of plague is the result of a bioweapon.
Trump also said he planned to call Russian President Vladimir Putin, who turned 74 on Wednesday, later in the day. Trump previously had said that call would focus on the plague-related incident.
Trump's comments came at an Oval Office event promoting Trump Accounts, the new tax-deferred savings and investment accounts that more than 60 million American children under age 18 have been automatically enrolled in.
Russian media reported earlier this week that nearly 200 people had been placed under medical observation in Russia's Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia over suspected exposure to plague, after a female worker at an anti-plague research institute in Irkutsk fell ill and died.
A reporter at Wednesday's Oval Office event asked Trump, "Is the plague in Russia a bioweapon?"
Trump replied, "Well, we don't think so."
"We're going to find out soon enough. But we don't think so," Trump said. "And if you listen to them, it's under control. You know, people have said that before about other things."
Asked if he was "getting the same vibe" from Russia that he got from China as the start of the Covid-19 outbreak there, Trump acknowledged, "China didn't say much, and Russia is not saying much either."
"But they do say they have it very much under control," Trump said.
Asked about being in contact with Putin, Trump said, "I have a call set up. Today is his birthday."