What is “Havana Syndrome”, attributed by an international media investigation to a Russian military intelligence unit?

A scenario that James Bond would not have denied and put back on the table by a long-term journalistic investigation by several international media. According to this investigation, Russian intelligence agents could be responsible for a strange illness that has struck hundreds of Western diplomats and spies in recent years: “Havana syndrome”. These “abnormal health incidents” have agitated the intelligence community for years, with some claiming that they are due to secret “acoustic weapons”.

It all officially began in Cuba, in 2016. Dozens of American and Canadian diplomats stationed on the island say they suffered various symptoms at the time (ringing, migraines, dizziness, nausea, vision problems, etc.). From the following year, reported cases spread across the world, such as in China, India, Germany, Poland, Russia and even the heart of American power in Washington.

“An unbearable migraine and ringing ears”

Many report hearing strange noises or feeling vibrations just before or during the onset of symptoms. “I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme dizziness, an unbearable migraine and ringing ears”reported in 2022 to France 2 Marc Polymeropolous, former CIA agent, who said he had to leave his post because of these ills, still felt daily. “I heard a very distinct sound, a bit like running water”also reported to the American channel CBS an American diplomat living in China, specifying that his wife and children were also struck by symptoms ranging from memory loss to bleeding.

Despite the inaccuracies, the commonalities between these stories were taken seriously. Several studies and investigations have been launched to try to clarify the mystery. US President Joe Biden even signed a law to compensate victims in 2021, with some people suffering severe brain injuries – but still without a clear explanation.

A medical study conducted at the request of the American government in 2018 concluded with the discovery of what could be “a new clinical entity”, similar to a permanent concussion, but without making a causal connection with the sounds described. Another study (in PDF) published the same year also suggests that dysfunctional Cuban surveillance equipment could also be the origin of the sounds, notes the American newspaper Miami Herald.

Coincidences or secret “acoustic weapon”?

In 2022, a report from scientists (in PDF) believed that some cases could not be linked to the health of the affected people, their environment or psychological factors. The text raised the possibility that the symptoms were caused by ultrasound or“pulsed electromagnetic energy” (“pulsed electromagnetic energy”), summarized the British media The Guardiannot without recalling the “lack of research” on the effects on humans.

James Benford, a physicist specializing in high-power microwaves interviewed by CBS, explained that microwave transmitters that could damage the brain had been studied for more than fifty years and were developed in several countries, including the United States. -United States, Russia and China.

The new journalistic investigation on the subject, carried out jointly by the independent Russian newspaper The InsiderCBS and the German magazine Der Spiegel, this time concludes that Russia is likely responsible. And more particularly that of a Russian military intelligence unit (GRU), 29155, specialized in clandestine operations abroad, targeted assassinations and state interference (including the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in United Kingdom in 2018).

The three media say they have “discovered elements suggesting that these abnormal health incidents (…) could come from the use of directed energy weapons, wielded by members of unit 29155” of the GRU. Its agents would have experimented with “non-lethal acoustic weapons” and would have been geolocated on several occasions near the agents who suffered these symptoms, shortly before or at the time of their occurrence, according to The Insider.

US intelligence denies foreign action thesis

Last year, however, American intelligence wanted to put an end to these speculations. After several years of investigation into nearly 1,500 “abnormal health incidents” among American diplomats and spies, the majority of participating intelligence agencies concluded that the available information did not support that an enemy of the United States was the cause of these symptoms. There was also no evidence that a foreign power had a weapon capable of causing these unrest, according to the report cited by The Guardian in March 2023.

According to this report, the medical studies which concluded that the “Havana syndrome” was specific suffered from methodological problems and were based on presuppositions that were contradicted by the facts. The symptoms were “probably the result of factors (…) such as pre-existing conditions, common illnesses and environmental factors”according to this text.

New investigations by major international media have not changed this point of view. The spokesperson for the US State Department declined to comment directly on this investigation, but declared that the intelligence community continued to consider a foreign origin unlikely.

Moscow also rejects any involvement. “This subject has been inflated in the press for several years now. And from the start, it has often been associated with Russia”declared Dmitri Peskov, spokesperson for the Kremlin, during a press conference on Monday April 1. “No one has ever published any convincing evidence, so this is all just a baseless accusation.”.