JAKARTA - The Kremlin rejects media reports that say Russian military intelligence is behind Havana Syndrome, a mysterious disease that is affecting United States diplomats and intelligence services in various parts of the world.
Insider, a Russia-focused investigative media group based in Riga, Latvia reports members of a Russian military intelligence unit (GRU) known as 29155, have been stationed at the scene of a health incident reportedly involving US personnel.
A year-long Insider investigation in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Germany's Der Spiegel also reported that senior members of Unit 29155 received awards and promotions for work related to the development of "non-lethal acoustic weapons."
"This is not a new topic at all, for many years the topic of the so-called 'Havana Syndrome' has been exaggerated in the media, and from the beginning this topic was associated with accusations against the Russian side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry said when asked about the report. reported by Reuters, April 2.
“But no one has ever published or stated any convincing evidence of these baseless accusations anywhere,” he continued, adding that therefore, all of this is nothing more than baseless and baseless media accusations.
In Washington, the Pentagon confirmed a senior Pentagon official experienced symptoms similar to those associated with "Havana syndrome" during a NATO summit in Vilnius last year.
Symptoms of this disease include migraines, nausea, memory loss, and dizziness.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the official was not part of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's delegation and referred questions to the intelligence community regarding broader issues.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred to its 2024 Annual Threat Assessment as saying the US intelligence community continues to "closely examine" the so-called Anomalous Health Incident, but noted most agencies concluded "it is highly unlikely that a foreign adversary was responsible."
It is known that US intelligence agencies assess the symptoms, which were first reported by US embassy officials in the Cuban capital, Havana, in 2016, "may be caused by factors that do not involve foreign adversaries."
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The Insider report said the first occurrence of "Havana Syndrome" symptoms may have occurred before 2016.
It said "there may have been an attack two years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany, when a US Government employee stationed at the consulate there was knocked unconscious by something similar to a powerful energy beam".
The US Congress passed the Havana Act in 2021 which authorized the State Department, CIA and other US Government agencies to provide payments to staff and their families who contracted the disease while on duty.
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