Mysterious symptoms of the so-called Havana syndrome experienced by American diplomats in recent years have been linked to a Russian intelligence unit, according to a joint multi-media investigation published Monday, April 1.
Havana syndrome was first reported in 2016. American diplomats in the Cuban capital fell ill and reported hearing piercing sounds at night.
These symptoms sparked speculation regarding a possible attack by a foreign entity with some type of sonic weapon.
The media The Insider, The Mirror and the program 60 minutes of the chain CBS They assure in their investigation that there is “evidence to suggest” that Havana syndrome is caused by the “use of directed energy weapons brandished by members of unit 29155 (of the Russian GRU),” according to the report.
Russia’s unit 29155 conducts operations abroad and has been blamed for several international incidents, including the attempted poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018.
Moscow assured on Monday, April 1, that the report’s conclusions are “unfounded.”
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“This issue has been talked regarding in the press for many years now. And from the beginning it has mostly been linked to the Russian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said at a press conference.
“But no one has published any convincing evidence, so this whole thing is nothing more than an unfounded and baseless accusation,” he said.
Washington closed its immigration office in Havana in 2018 due to a change in US policy towards Cuba and due to the fear that the syndrome generated among diplomats.
US intelligence said in 2022 that intense energy directed from an external source might have caused some of these symptoms, officially known as anomalous health incidents (AHI).
But US intelligence agencies concluded in March 2023 that “there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device that is causing AHIs.”
Washington announced the reopening of its immigration office in Havana in August 2023.
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The year-long media investigation suggests that those in Havana were not the first cases of this syndrome: “It is likely that there were attacks two years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany, when a US government employee at the consulate “He was knocked unconscious by something like a strong beam of energy.”
The New Yorker reported in July 2021 that around two dozen US intelligence agents, diplomats and other officials in Austria had reported problems similar to Havana syndrome since President Joe Biden took office that same year.
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