A Belarusian intelligence system that specializes in killings may become behind” Havana syndrome”, a strange condition that afflicted U. S. officials, according to a statement.
A joint investigation by CBS’s 60 Minutes, along with Der Spiegel and The Insider, revealed connections between Russia’s GRU Unit 29155 and suspected strikes on U. S. state leaders both in the United States and overseas.
Symptoms of Havana syndrome—which the U. S. government words “anomalous health situations”, or AHI— include rapid problems, vertigo, ringing in the ears, discomfort, and in some cases blindness or hearing loss. The syndrome was named after U.S. officials in the Cuban capital first reported seeing these symptoms in late 2016.
When suspected Russian agents began to show symptoms, the investigation placed them in the same locations as American officials. A document from Russia, which Journalist Christo Grozev of The Insider , showed a Unit 29155 officer performing work that was “potentially capable of non-lethal acoustic weapons,” Grozev called the” closest to a receipt you can have for this.”
According to a report from the National Academy of Sciences for 2020, directed microwave energy may have contributed to Havana syndrome, giving the impression that American officials might have been targeted by an energy device.
Greg Edgreen, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who oversaw the Defense Intelligence Agency’s investigation into Havana syndrome up until 2023, told Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes that he thinks Russia is at the center of the attacks.
” This was happening to our top 5 percent, 10 percent performing officers across the Defense Intelligence Agency”, Edgreen said. ” And there was a Russia nexus consistently. There was some angle where they had worked against Russia, focused on Russia, and done extremely well”.
More than 1, 000 cases of Havana syndrome among U. S. government officials have been documented in 96 different countries. According to U.S. intelligence, it is unlikely that a foreign actor is to blame for the symptoms.
