Suspected plague case highlights Russia’s inherited Soviet-era culture of secrecy

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 04:23 Issued on: 09/10/2026 - 12:11 The suspicious death last week of a worker at a research lab in Siberia that has fueled global concerns about suspected pneumonic plague is just the latest example of how Russia manages the official narrative. The Kremlin has long maintained a culture of secrecy when it comes to controlling public information, especially involving accidents – from industrial disasters to health emergencies, as FRANCE 24's International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert explains.