PoliticsRFK Jr.'s HHS Allegedly Funneled Over $800K to Siberian Lab Linked to Russian Plague Outbreak, Watchdog Says
A watchdog group has discovered that American taxpayer money went to a research project that was connected to the Russian university overseeing the plague lab.
Oct. 8 2026, Published 2:21 p.m. ET
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is allegedly financially connected to the Russian lab at the center of a potential pneumonic plague outbreak.
Government watchdog White Coat Waste reported that Kennedy's HHS funneled $800,000 of American taxpayer money to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which was partnered with Russia's state-run Institute of Cytology and Genetics — the college associated with the Siberian lab where a 28-year-old researcher died, possibly due to exposure to the deadly plague.
RFK Jr.'s NIH Funded a Study Connected to the Russian Lab
The watchdog said the money should never have been granted.
The Illinois university partnered with the Siberian institute as part of a study investigating social behavior in Siberian foxes. UIUC twice received grants of nearly $390,000 for the study.
White Coat Waste found that the grants should never have been sent at all. In 2022, right after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Joe Biden ordered the cessation in U.S. participation in animal testing in Russia.
Neither the National Institute of Health nor the HHS department has commented on the connection.
The Trump Administration Promised to 'Help' Russia With Plague
Trump promised to 'help' Russia if needed.
The discovery of the connection between RFK Jr. and a potential plague outbreak comes days after Donald Trump said he was monitoring the situation and was prepared to "help" Russia should the death grow into a serious epidemic.
The comment didn't inspire much confidence, as infectious diseases have spread in America at an alarming rate thanks in part to RFK Jr.'s anti-vax leadership and DOGE-related budget cuts to health organizations like the CDC.
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The Potential Plague Outbreak Still Shrouded in Mystery
It's difficult to get reliable information on the researcher's death.
Meanwhile, the death of researcher Darya Shipilova continues to be shrouded in mystery.
She reportedly told staff at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute that she accidentally broke a test tube containing live bacteria. She then died of an "unidentified pneumonia" shortly after.
Two-hundred people were reportedly placed in quarantine in an attempt to contain the situation. Local Russian media has reported that a second person has died of the pneumonic plague in the region.
Medical Experts Preach Calm
Medical experts remain calm for now.
The pneumonic plague is almost always fatal if it is not treated with antibiotics shortly after infection.
Medical experts assure that it is also easier to contain than COVID-19, as unlike Covid, the pneumonic plague is spread by the coughs or sneezes of symptomatic people. Furthermore, the plague droplets do not spread as far as COVID droplets.
In an abundance of caution, countries neighboring Russia including Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have tightened border security in an effort to stop the potential spread of the illness.
