Journalists found a connection between the GRU and cases of “Havana syndrome”

Employees of military unit 29155 of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (formerly the GRU) might influence American diplomats, officials and intelligence officers with a secret weapon that causes the so-called “Havana syndrome”. This conclusion was reached by journalists from The Insider, the 60 Minutes program of the American television channel CBS News and the German weekly Der Spiegel. The results of their investigation were published on Monday, April 1.

By comparing data on the travel of Russian military intelligence agents with cases of “Havana syndrome” in different regions of the world, journalists discovered a clear correlation. As the investigation showed, symptoms of “Havana syndrome” in Americans appeared during the same periods and in the same places where employees of 29155 came.

In particular, the movements of agents of the Main Directorate of the General Staff across Europe in 2014 coincided with a “series of strange attacks” on employees of the American consulate in Frankfurt am Main. In 2016-2017 in China, following the arrival of a group of agents 29155, American diplomats begin to report strange health problems. In 2021, in Georgia, where employees from unit 29155 were located, the wife of an American diplomat, whose name was not disclosed, was diagnosed with Minor syndrome. “Strange coincidences” were also recorded in Belgrade and Hanoi in 2021.

Two victims identified possible participants in the attacks

Two alleged victims who showed symptoms of the “Havana syndrome” identified the probable participants in the attacks from photographs: in Frankfurt am Main they saw agent Yegor Gordienko before his health deteriorated, in Tbilisi – Albert Averyanov, the son of unit commander Andrei Averyanov.

Journalists also came into possession of a document confirming research by one of the key members of group 29155, Ivan Terentyev, into “the potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons during military (combat) operations in the city.”

Although there is no direct evidence in favor of the involvement of Russian military intelligence in the use of “acoustic weapons,” now “American authorities can rethink their attitude towards the “Havana syndrome” and begin a full investigation of the incidents,” the authors of the investigation conclude.