The Russian intelligence agency GRU is to blame for the neurological problems of American diplomats, writes Insider

Members of the Russian military intelligence GRU could be behind the so-called Havana syndrome, reported the Russian investigative portal The Insider, which over a year investigated the circumstances of these health problems with neurological symptoms. He undertook his investigation together with the German newspaper Der Spiegel and the program 60 Minutes of the American station CBS. The Kremlin responded today by saying there was a lack of evidence of alleged Russian involvement. According to Reuters, the Pentagon has confirmed that a high-ranking official of the US Department of Defense who attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Vilnius last year also suffered from the symptoms of “Havana syndrome”.

The Havana syndrome began to be talked about in 2016 in connection with the neurological problems of American diplomats working in the Cuban capital. Problems such as headaches, fatigue, hearing distortion, but also dizziness and nausea have since been reported by diplomats, CIA agents or family members of these persons operating in a number of other countries, including Austria, Colombia or Vietnam.

Russia has previously denied any involvement in these events. However, according to The Insider’s findings, members of Russian military intelligence from unit 29155, which the media had previously linked to the nerve agent poisoning of former Russian secret agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain, were in the cities where the “Havana syndrome” appeared. or gunsmith Emilijan Gebrev in Bulgaria. Gebrev also had weapons stored in Moravian Vrbětice in October 2014, when a devastating explosion hit the ammunition warehouse there. The Czech authorities also suspect members of the GRU from 2021 at the latest in this explosion.

According to the investigators, it was possible to identify the Russian agent Albert Averyanov, who belongs to unit 29155. According to The Insider, Averyanov is not “an ordinary Russian spy”. He was supposed to be in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi at the time when neurological problems appeared among American diplomats at the embassy there. Albert is the son of Unit 29155’s founding commander, 56-year-old General Andrei Averyanov, who is currently the powerful deputy director of the GRU and tasked with directing the Kremlin’s foreign policy in Africa. It was Averjanov the younger who was able to be identified by members of the embassy in Georgia, and his portrait was subsequently published by The Insider server.

In connection with the “Havana syndrome” and the possible involvement of Russian intelligence personnel, The Insider mentions so-called acoustic weapons. He said that among his main findings was that high-ranking members of the said GRU had received awards for their contribution to the development of these weapons. The term acoustic weapon is used in Russian military literature to denote a device that can hit the brain of a victim with the help of high-frequency waves, the portal noted.

According to the investigative portal, the first case of the “Havana syndrome” could have occurred earlier than 2016. According to it, two “attacks” took place in 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, one of the victims being an employee of the American consulate.

The American newspaper The Washington Post wrote last year that, according to an analysis by five American intelligence agencies, the “Havana syndrome” was most likely not caused by an attack by a hostile government or a weapon or device emitting energy beams. He also stated that the explanation for the phenomenon remains unclear.

According to the TASS agency, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted today that the media had previously blamed Russia for the “Havana syndrome” and stated that there was a lack of evidence for Russian involvement. “For many years, the media has been pushing the topic of the so-called Havana syndrome. “From the very beginning, it is most often associated with the accusation of the Russian side, but for the entire time no one has published or presented at least a little convincing evidence for these loud accusations,” said Peskov.

“I can confirm that a high-ranking Department of Defense official had symptoms similar to those reported in unusual medical incidents,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters today. She added that the unnamed official was not part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s delegation to the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital, but was there “on his own and attended meetings that were part of the NATO summit.” Citing medical secrecy and privacy protection, the spokeswoman did not specify whether the person in question had to seek further medical help, or whether he had to stop fulfilling his duties or retire.