Research Project Linked To Russian Plague Lab Allegedly Got Almost $800k From RFK Jr.

RFK Jr. allegedly oversaw almost $800k in federal funding to a project directly linked to the facility at the center of Russia's suspected plague outbreak.
Research Project Linked To Russian Plague Lab Allegedly Got Almost $800k From RFK Jr.
Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons License 2.0
By Andrea Thompson — October 8, 2026

A bombshell new investigation just dropped from animal testing watchdog White Coat Waste (WCW) that appears to show that the National Institutes of Health, headed up by none other than the infamous RFK Jr., awarded a total of $779,689 to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2025 and 2026 for research that was conducted in direct partnership with Russia's state-run Institute of Cytology and Genetics -- the very same Russian lab that is now implicated in a potential plague outbreak.

WCW obtained and reported federal records showing the project received $389,943 in July 2025 and an additional $389,746 in September 2026.

The Institute of Cytology and Genetics has previously worked alongside the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, where a young scientist recently and very suddenly died under extremely concerning circumstances, triggering intense fear of a potential plague outbreak.

Recent reporting has confirmed that 28-year-old researcher Daria Shipilova suddenly fell extremely ill after a laboratory incident involving a broken test tube on September 25. Shipilova later died of extremely severe pneumonia, triggering the quarantine and medical observation of nearly 200 people in Russia.

US officials are monitoring the situation, and Russian officials have declined to confirm that Shipilova's death was a result of the plague. President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House earlier this week that he "has a call scheduled very soon" with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the potential plague outbreak.

As for the RFK Jr.-linked money, WCW confirmed it has funded research into the genetic underpinnings of social behavior using foxes raised in captivity at the Siberian breeding facility. WCW obtained a trove of documents via the Freedom of Information Act that confirmed that researchers euthanize the foxes before collecting biological samples and sending them to the US for analysis. This funding was allotted to the Russian project by RFK Jr., despite a 2022 directive from President Joe Biden to pull back from federally supported scientific partnerships with Russian government institutions in the midst of Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

RFK Jr used taxpayer money to fund gain-of-function research in Russia. No wonder he falsely accused Fauci of the same thing. Every accusation is a confession.

The question is, why is the regime helping Russia develop the plague?

— Allison Gill (@muellershewrote.com) 2026-10-08T15:58:33.142Z

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