Germany’s foreign minister demands answers on Irkutsk and considers travel restrictions

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul demanded answers from Russia following reports about the death of an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. BILD published his comments on 9 October. He raised travel restrictions as a possible measure to protect people in Europe if needed.

An AFP (Agence France-Presse, the French news agency) report in Tagesspiegel quotes Wadephul demanding transparency about research in Russian laboratories. It also relays his remarks about possible EU (European Union) measures. This is a conditional proposal by the minister: the report announces no German or Union decision imposing restrictions.

In the same BILD article, Roman Wölfel, director of the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, said he saw no immediate danger for Germany or Europe. Immunologist Andreas Radbruch, Senior Professor at Charité and director emeritus of the German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin, assessed the likelihood of an epidemic as very low. Karl Lauterbach, a Bundestag member and former German health minister, spoke conditionally: if plague bacteria were responsible, they would be less contagious than coronavirus, and early treatment could cure the disease.

These assessments do not establish Darya Shipilova’s diagnosis or confirm a second plague case. The article supplies no new test results. Interview times for the specialists and minister are not stated.

Deutschlandfunk also relayed Wadephul’s remarks, attributing them to BILD. The AFP report cites the same source. These publications document dissemination of one statement rather than independent confirmation of the medical circumstances.

BILD: published on 9 October at 02:27:13 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), 10:27:13 in Irkutsk; modification metadata matches. AFP / Tagesspiegel: 05:52:49 UTC, 13:52:49 in Irkutsk. Deutschlandfunk gives only the date, 9 October. Interview dates and times are not established. Added to this research on 9 October.