Mysterious attacks on US representatives abroad turn into a scandal: Russian GRU agents caught

The public first learned about Havana syndrome in 2017. Then more than 20 US officials stationed in Cuba experienced strange health ailments in Havana.

Since then, more than 100 cases have been documented in places like Guangzhou, China, and even Washington DC. Victims include American diplomats, spies, military personnel, contractors, and in some cases, their spouses, children, and even pets. The report found that the first of these attacks actually occurred in 2014. Frankfurt, Germany.

The Insider calls the attack tool “directed energy weapons” developed through years of research into Soviet-era military intelligence programming. The medical consequences of these weapons can be long-term and in some cases very severe.

Havana syndrome causes a variety of symptoms, including chronic headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, insomnia, nausea, long-term psychophysiological disorders, and even blindness or hearing loss. Many victims were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries that forced them to medically retire from public service.

One of the victims of these attacks was Joy, a nurse and the wife of an official working at the American Embassy in Tbilisi, who died in 2021. was attacked outside her home. According to The Insider, the woman has been suffering from headaches every day for the past three years. She will even need a third head surgery to address the rapid loss of her temporal bone, a condition she says a neurosurgeon cannot explain.

The Insider, along with Der Spiegel and 60 Minutes, was able to locate operatives associated with Unit 29155 around the world shortly before or at the time of the reports of the anomalous health. Unlike other groups of Russian intelligence agencies, Unit 29155 was not created for espionage or intelligence gathering, but focused entirely on violent military operations.

Other evidence reveals that senior officers in this unit received awards and promotions for their work on non-lethal acoustic weapons. It is a term used in the intelligence and military literature to describe audio and radio frequency directed energy devices.

According to a former CIA officer, Unit 29155’s mission is to “find, fix and terminate, all in support of Vladimir Putin’s imperial dreams.”

Surprisingly, many of the victims of these attacks had subject knowledge or operational experience in Georgia, Ukraine or Russia. Both Georgia and Ukraine have experienced “color revolutions” over the past two decades, which Russian President Vladimir Putin attributes to the influence of the CIA.

Havana Act

The report says Putin would have a legitimate interest in neutralizing US intelligence officials he holds responsible for losing former satellites or components of the former Soviet empire.

Several US officials working in Ukraine have experienced anomalous health problems around the world, especially after 2014. and annexation of Crimea.

The investigation revealed that the frequency of Havana syndrome cases among veterans at the US Embassy in Kiev worried one of them so much that he decided to leave the CIA altogether rather than risk becoming a fourth victim.

The report raises serious questions about how the US responded to these attacks. American intelligence agencies have applied what the study calls the “nothing to see here assessment.” Office of the Director of National Intelligence 2023 March. issued a redacted report saying it was “extremely unlikely” that the anomalous health problems were caused by foreign forces. Victims of the attacks were reportedly shocked by the report’s findings, with many feeling betrayed by their own government.

“This investigation has shown that either the intelligence community is unable to perform its primary function, or it has tried to cover up the facts and poison the affected employees and the public,” one of the victims explained to The Insider.

in 2021 The Biden administration passed the Havana Act, which provides substantial compensation to certified victims of abnormal medical conditions.

There are currently two theories as to why the US government may be hiding the truth about the nature of these attacks. First, the release of all intelligence about these attacks could convince the American public that Moscow had committed an act of war. A second theory is that admitting that Havana syndrome was caused by a foreign adversary could hurt recruiting for the CIA or the State Department.

The report says that if the Kremlin is found responsible for these attacks, the disruption of America’s regional intelligence experts through abnormal health conditions could become one of Putin’s greatest strategic victories against the United States.

Prepared according to information from The Kyiv Independent.