A joint media investigation released by The Insider, Der Spiegel, and CBS’s 60 Minutes on Monday links a Russian intelligence unit to the mysterious symptoms of “Havana Syndrome” that have affected US diplomats in recent years. The first mention of Havana Syndrome occurred in 2016 when US diplomats stationed in the Cuban capital reported feeling unwell and hearing piercing noises at night. This led to concerns about a potential foreign attack using an unidentified sonar weapon.

Later, embassy personnel in China, Europe, and the US capital, Washington, reported additional symptoms, such as bloody noses, headaches, and vision issues. The Insider, Der Spiegel, and CBS’s 60 Minutes jointly reported that the ambassadors might have been the target of Russian sonic weapons.

The year-long inquiry “uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of (the Russian GRU) Unit 29155,” according to the report. In charge of foreign operations, Russia’s 29155 unit has links with several international incidents, including the attempt in 2018 to poison defector Sergei Skripal in Britain.

Russian Response

On Monday, Moscow rejected the accusations as ‘groundless.’ “This subject has been discussed in the media for several years. And it’s usually connected to the Russian side from the start,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference. “But nobody has ever published any convincing evidence, so all this is nothing more than a groundless and unfounded accusation,” he continued.

In 2018, Washington shut down its immigration office in Havana due to a change in US policy toward Cuba and concerns that the “Havana Syndrome” could have been caused by an electronic attack, such as a microwave. In 2022, US intelligence also stated that anomalous health incidents (AHIs), the formal term for Havana Syndrome cases, may have been brought on by intense directed energy from an outside source in some instances.

However, in March 2023, intelligence services concluded that “there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device causing AHIs.” The US announced reopening its immigration office in Havana in August 2023.

History of Havana Syndrome

According to the joint investigation, the Havana Syndrome may have originated in Germany two years before the cases that gave rise to the syndrome’s name in Havana in 2016.

“There were likely attacks two years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany when a US government employee stationed at the consulate there was knocked unconscious by something akin to a strong energy beam,” according to the report. In July 2021, The New Yorker revealed that since President Joe Biden took office, roughly twenty-one US intelligence officers, diplomats, and other government officials in Austria had reported experiencing issues akin to the Havana Syndrome.

What is Havana Syndrome 

Although the precise cause of Havana syndrome is still unknown, the Insider investigation raises the possibility that it has something to do with potential Russian sonic weapons. Unknown symptoms of the illness include headaches, exhaustion, vertigo, anxiety, dizziness, memory loss, and cognitive impairment. The syndrome was like “a dentist drilling” into her ear,  according to an FBI agent who experienced it, she told 60 Minutes.