It is believed that the Russian military intelligence unit is behind such attacks, but the officials responsible for Lithuania’s security can neither confirm nor deny such information.
The Center for Eastern European Studies, headed by Linas Kojala, contributed to the organization of the NATO public forum. L. Kojala said that he was surprised by information about a possible attack on an American official during the NATO summit.
The “Havana syndrome” was already known and widely discussed, but it was at the NATO summit that there was really no talk about the fact that a similar incident could have happened, and basically the information has only now become clear,” said L. Kojala to “LNK Žinioms”.
Kasčiūnas: we will explain
The newly appointed Minister of National Defense, Laurynas Kasčiūnas, seems to have not delved much into the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” until now.
“Perhaps, that’s what the headlines say. Without a doubt, an interesting means of exposure,” he assessed.
The minister neither confirmed nor denied the information that such a weapon could have been used in Vilnius.
“But, of course, bearing in mind the methods of operation of the Russian intelligence and security services, it is absolutely impossible to say that they could not apply similar methods in their activities. They can apply it, we will clarify further”, commented L. Kasčiūnas.
The syndrome got its name from the capital of Cuba, because in 2016, American diplomats working there first began to complain of a high-frequency annoying sound. Then there was nausea, dizziness like a concussion.
These are believed to be high-frequency electromagnetic or sound waves. In a few years, about 1,000 people felt the symptoms of the mysterious disease. American intelligence, diplomats and defense officials.
“Such events happened everywhere: both in NATO countries, in the United States, and in non-NATO countries,” noted L. Kojala.
Greg Edgreen, a recently retired officer, led the Defense Agency’s intelligence investigation. He explained that very soon the traces began to lead towards Russia.
Mysterious symptoms began only in the very best American officials, and all of them worked in one way or another on the Russian issue.
“The effect is that intelligence officers who have worked abroad and our diplomats are being removed from duty because of brain injuries.” They are neutralized,” Edgreen commented to CBS News/60 Minutes.
Recently, the “Havana Syndrome” has been talked about less. But this new study, which claims that the American officer also showed symptoms in Vilnius, proves that such a weapon is still being used.
“This shows that Moscow has no limits on what to attack. And if we don’t do anything, the problem will only grow,” said a recently retired US officer.
After a journalistic investigation, the Pentagon confirmed that the officer who participated in Vilnius had symptoms similar to those reported by those who experienced the “Havana syndrome”.
The State Security Department of Lithuania did not comment on this, and Moscow rejected the accusations.
“Yet the summit happened the summit it took place successfully, decisions were made, and Vilnius passed the test”, said Minister L. Kasčiūnas.
See the entire “LNK News” report here:
Jurkonis: additional data is required
The fact that the Russian military intelligence unit is behind the attacks and the “Havana syndrome” is a hypothesis, said Vytis Jurkonis, a political scientist interviewed by “LNK Žinių”, head of the Vilnius office of “Freedom House”. More data is needed to say that with certainty, he said.
“It seems like a strong hypothesis of researchers, journalists, they really have some data that allows to consider that hypothesis. This means that the dates of visits by GRU representatives coincide with certain poisonings and health disorders in various countries. They also have a document that shows some kind of acoustic weapon was being worked on. What it is, what it is, whether it’s like a rifle is not entirely clear, and certain ingredients are missing from the whole investigation. Obviously, they are trying to bring that data together, and they are doing it convincingly enough, but more data is needed. I have no doubt that the State Department and officials of other states will try to investigate further, to supplement that investigation with their own data”, V. Jurkonis taught.
He expressed hope that Lithuanian officials will contact journalists and try to find out whether the weapon was used during the NATO summit in Vilnius.
“From what’s in the research, it appears that it’s not a weapon that’s lethal, it’s more of a debilitating thing. And if this hypothesis is correct, it can be considered that people who work on Russian issues, intensively research one or another subject or work on sanctions issues, may be on the radar of the Russian authorities. They may try to disrupt that work.
In the study itself, the hypothesis is raised that it is trying to make work on Russian issues unattractive, so that few US diplomats would want to work, or rather would not want to work, on this issue, it would seem too dangerous, too complicated”, said V. Jurkonis and noted, that after a possible attack a person – there are testimonies – can lose half of his working capacity.
If it turns out that a weapon causing the “Havana syndrome” was actually used in Vilnius during the NATO summit, would that damage our reputation?
V. Jurkonis did not claim this.
“You have to look at how many attacks we’ve dealt with and it’s not usually talked about because nothing happened. Here the answer should be given by the representatives of our services. It seems to me that they were talking about the cyber attacks that have happened. It seems to me that it is normal to predict that during the NATO summit there will be many opportunities for provocations, preparations were made for this.
And again, this should be compared with the experiences of other countries at the summit and other meetings. It seems to me that we are living in such a reality that those attacks are happening, and that needs to be recorded and said very clearly. There’s no need to be shy about it, you need to prepare for it,” the interviewer noted.
You can find the full interview with him here:
