The mysterious Havana syndrome may be caused by a Russian sonic weapon, a journalistic investigation claims

The mysterious symptoms of the so-called Havana syndrome experienced by American diplomats in recent years have been linked a Russian intelligence unitaccording to a joint investigation by several media outlets published on Monday.

Havana syndrome has been reported for the first time in 2016. American diplomats in Cuba’s capital fell ill and reported hearing piercing sounds during the night.

These symptoms have sparked speculation about it a possible attack by a foreign entity with some kind of sonic weapon.

The journalistic investigation

The media The Insider, Der Spiegel and the CBS program “60 Minutes” In their research they assure that there is “evidence that suggests” that Havana syndrome is caused by “use of energy weapons direct brandished by members of unit 29155 (of the Russian GRU)“, according to the report.

Russian unit 29155 conducts operations abroad and has been blamed for numerous international incidents, including the attempted poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018.

Moscow assured the report’s conclusions on Monday they are “unfounded”.

“This issue has been talked about in the press for many years now. And from the beginning it has been mainly linked to the Russian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov told a press conference.

“But no one has published convincing evidenceso all this is nothing but an unfounded and baseless accusation,” he said.

Washington closed its immigration office in Havana in 2018 due to a change in US policy towards Cuba and the fear that the syndrome generated among diplomats.

US intelligence said this in 2022and intense energy directed from an external source may have caused some of these symptoms, officially known as anomalous health incidents (OUCH, for its acronym in English).

But US intelligence agencies concluded in March 2023 that “there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device that is causing AHI.”

Washington has announced the reopening of its immigration office in Havana in August 2023.

Other cases

The year-long media investigation suggests that those in Havana These were not the first cases of this syndrome: “It is likely that there were attacks two years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany, when an American government employee at the consulate knocked unconscious by something like a strong energy beam“.

The New Yorker reported in July 2021 that around twenty intelligence agents, diplomats and other US officials in Austria had reported problems similar to Havana syndrome since President Joe Biden took office that same year.