The mysterious “Havana syndrome” phenomenon that has plagued U.S. diplomats in recent years is linked to the Russian intelligence agency GRU, according to a report published Monday based on the results of a joint study conducted by several media outlets.
Havana Syndrome first became known in 2016, when American diplomats in the Cuban capital reported experiencing unusual symptoms and, in particular, high-pitched sounds they heard at night. These stories gave rise to speculation that some foreign organization was using unknown acoustic weapons against them.
Other symptoms, including nosebleeds, headaches and vision problems, were later reported by embassy officials in China and European countries.
In a joint report The Insider, The mirror and programs “60 Minutes” CBS television channel notes that Russian sound weapons could have been used against the diplomats.
The investigation, which lasted about a year, “found evidence that unexplained abnormal health events, also known as ‘Havana syndrome,’ may be associated with the use of directed energy weapons in the possession of Unit 29155.” GRU,” the report explains.
Russian GRU Unit 29155 is responsible for foreign operations. He faces allegations of involvement in several international incidents, including the 2018 attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the UK.
In 2018, the United States closed its immigration office in Havana due to a change in Washington’s Cuba policy and in response to concerns that the “Havana syndrome” was the result of a microwave or other electronic attack.
In 2022, US intelligence stated that intense directed energy from an external source may have caused some cases of “Havana syndrome”.
Based on the results of the completed joint investigation, the first cases of Havana syndrome may have occurred in Germany two years earlier than those reported in Havana in 2016.
July 2021 edition New Yorker reported that since President Joe Biden took office, about two dozen U.S. intelligence officials, diplomats and other government officials in Austria have reported problems similar to “Havana syndrome.”
The US sent medical and scientific experts to study the symptoms, and the victims were subjected to thorough examination.
At the request of the Russian service of the Voice of America A professor at Stanford University commented on the study of the “Havana syndrome” phenomenon David A. Relman. (The commentary is abbreviated.)
“I was involved in two studies, and both studies looked at people affected by Havana syndrome,” Relman says. “We were trying to understand the clinical picture… We were asked to look at the mechanism of injury—the mechanism that could cause these clinical features.” We were not asked to try to determine who might have done this.
…Both studies found that the victims’ symptoms could not be explained by known medical or environmental conditions.
… Secondly, both studies showed that there is a mechanism that can explain these conditions. And this mechanism is electromagnetic energy. Specifically, a form of electromagnetic energy that we call microwave energy or radio frequency energy. And not any form of this energy could cause such a clinical picture, but a very specific form, which is expressed in very short impulses. This form of electromagnetic energy is not common in the world around us, especially in the specific format we have looked at. So essentially what we’re saying is that there are people who have developed clinical conditions that we can’t explain except through this microwave energy mechanism. Question: where did this come from? In (the) research that I co-led and that we conducted on behalf of the U.S. intelligence community, we discovered that there were devices that could produce the type of pulsed microwave energy that we are talking about.”
Leaving aside the question of who exactly could create and use these devices, Professor Relman states: “For at least 50 years, Russia, and before that the Soviet Union, demonstrated a very great interest in this particular phenomenon. They were extremely interested in the effects of microwave energy on humans – more than any other country. When we concluded that pulsed microwave energy in certain forms was a plausible explanation for some of the… (above) cases, our conclusions were met with skepticism, great skepticism, in terms of… the technical ability of microwave energy to produce such a condition. And I understand that people are skeptical because you don’t find studies in the Western medical literature that say, “We tested the device on people, and look what we did.”
“We put together a lot of different information, (containing) … a lot of circumstantial evidence, which led us to believe that we could not ignore the possibility that people did this and that they had the means to do this,” explains David Relman.
Senator Marco Rubiocommented on the question “Voices of America” about the “Havana syndrome”:
“The intelligence community has much work to do to get to the bottom of who and what is behind events that have crippled, and in some cases permanently disabled, our diplomats, their families, and intelligence officials in many places around the world. The Senate Intelligence Committee continues to oversee the work of the Independent Panel to Determine What is Behind Havana Syndrome. We also remain committed to ensuring that those affected receive adequate care and benefits.”
