"Havana Syndrome": Russian intelligence services use secret weapons against American diplomats - The Insider

Russia could have been poisoning American diplomats around the world for years. We are talking about the so-called "Havana Syndrome" faced by US officials in Georgia, Germany, China  and Serbia. This is stated in a joint investigation by The Insider, 60 minutes and Der Spiegel, reports UNN.

Details

The "Havana Syndrome" was named after one of the largest incidents that occurred in 2016 in the Cuban capital.

Many American and Canadian employees of the local consulate experienced a strange phenomenon. They suddenly felt sick, experienced severe pressure (sometimes pain) in their ears, an attack of nausea and panic, and heard strange sounds.

Subsequently, it became clear that something similar was happening to American diplomats, officials, and intelligence officers around the world, often right on the grounds of consulates.

What causes this effect has not yet been established, but the main working theory is pulsed microwave radiation.

As we have established, there is a clear correlation between the travels of GRU officers from military unit 29155 and cases of "Havana syndrome" in different regions of the world

As we have been able to establish, there is a clear correlation between the travels of GRU officers from military unit 29155 and cases of "Havana syndrome" in different regions of the world.

In September 2014 , Denis Sergeev ("Sergei Fedotov") flew from Moscow to Milan (he had a fresh Italian visa at the time), and at the same time, Yegor Gordienko ("Georgy Gorshkov") flew to Paris on a French visa.

Both of them will board a train immediately upon arrival to meet in Geneva shortly afterward. 

They booked a hotel right at the Geneva airport, which allowed them to travel from there to any Schengen destination without leaving a trace.

They booked a hotel right at the Geneva airport, which allowed them to travel from there to any Schengen destination without leaving a trace

Sergeev and Gordienko are replaced by the next group. First, Ivan Terentyev ("Lebedev") and his assistant Nikolai Yezhov ("Kononikhin") arrive. A little later, on the 15th, they are joined by Danylo Kapralov ("Stepanov"). From October 17 to 24, Alexander Kovalchuk ("Danilin") joined the group.

The operation comes to an end on November 3, when all three members of 29155 depart at the same time, but through different airports: Yezhov from Vienna, and Terentyev and Kapralov from Geneva. It is clear from Kapralov's hotel reservation and the dates of their airline bookings that they knew about their planned November 3 departure very well in advance.

And on November 4, in Frankfurt, employees of the American consulate faced a series of strange attacks. One of the affected employees (let's call him/her Taylor) felt sick right in the consulate building: strong pressure in his/her chest, then in the neck and head, dizzy, sweaty, nauseous, heart started beating frantically, hearing seemed to be turned off, and only a loud and high-pitched sound was heard in his/her head. A few seconds later, Taylor lost consciousness

The journalists said that a few weeks before the incident, Taylor noticed a suspicious man of strong build and tall stature walking around the residential complex intended for consulate employees and taking pictures of the area. Taylor asked him what he was doing there, and the man replied with a strong accent and walked away.

When The Insider, 60 Minutes, and Der Spiegel showed Taylor a photo of Yegor Gordienko that matched the description, he responded confidently: "Yes, that's him, I'm getting goosebumps looking at this photo right now.

Tbilisi (2021)

A similar story happened in the capital of Georgia. Investigators described how Joy, the wife of an American diplomat, who moved from the United States to Georgia in February 2020 with her diplomat husband and son, was "attacked." They settled in Tbilisi in a house on a quiet street near the embassy.

In the fall of 2021, a woman was waiting for her son to return from school and was doing laundry on the second floor. As she was taking the laundry out of the washing machine, turning to the window, she suddenly felt something like a powerful sound wave that pierced her head on the left side of the window, filled her with noise and gave her a terrible headache.

Joy left the room and went to the bathroom, where the sound seemed to disappear from her head, and she vomited. She called her husband, who soon arrived, accompanied by embassy security officers.

While waiting for her husband, Joy looked outside, noticed a strange car she had never seen on the street before, and took a picture of it. Near the car she saw a tall, blond man with a thin build. Next to him was a girl, and they were very well dressed, as if they were going to a wedding or a performance. When the man saw Joy taking his picture, he quickly dove into the car

It is known that after that day and to this day, Joy has been experiencing severe migraine attacks every day (which she had never had before). Her consciousness is blurred, she has difficulty finding the stairs when she goes down the stairs, her coordination of movements is impaired, and she has problems with her vestibular system.

American investigators have not been able to determine what caused the incident. However, as The Insider found out, it was a strange coincidence that GRU officers from the 29155 unit were in Georgia at the time.

In particular, on September 30, 2021, General Andriy Averyanov, head of the 29155 military unit, left for a business trip. At the same time, his son Albert Averyanov, whom his father recruited to the unit several years ago, left Moscow with him.

Despite his young age (he was 21 at the time), Albert has already gained serious experience: while still a student at Moscow State University, in 2017-2018 he unofficially "interned" in Geneva under the supervision of the aforementioned Yegor Gordienko.

That day, General Averyanov turned off his phone, and it is difficult to trace his further itinerary, only that he reappeared in Moscow on October 10, the day his son arrived.

His son's phone records show that on September 30, he flew to Tashkent, where he called an Uzbek cell phone number from the airport the next morning. This was the last call Albert would receive for the next 10 days. After that, Averyanov Jr.'s phone was roaming, but without access to the network. Nine days after the last call from Tashkent - and just two days after the Joy incident - on October 9, Albert Averyanov switches his phone back on in Tashkent and returns to Moscow the next day

When Joy was presented with a photograph of Albert Averyanov, she immediately recognized him: "When I saw this photo, I immediately had a spontaneous reaction, I felt sick. I can't be 100 percent sure that it's this person, but it's definitely very similar. Even to this day, when I look at him, I feel the same intuitive reaction.

GRU license for "acoustic weapons"

Investigators managed to obtain a letter from GRU Colonel Ivan Terentyev (aka "Ivan Lebedev"), Averyanov's deputy in military unit 29155 , addressed to the head of the Russian Presidential Anti-Corruption Directorate, Andrey Chobotov.

In the letter, Terentyev explained why he did not include 100 thousand rubles in the security clearance declaration that he had to submit as part of his promotion to the presidential staff.

According to the document , Ivan Terentyev handed over to the Foundation for Advanced Research an "individual work" entitled "Potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons in military (combat) operations in the city".

What kind of "acoustic weapon" was Terentyev developing? If it was a weapon that used sound waves, it could have been an infrasound weapon that operated at a great distance and was designed to cause panic in the enemy, or waves of the audible spectrum that produced a stunning effect. It could hardly be ultrasound, which is quickly absorbed or dissipated. But perhaps the weapon was called acoustic for another reason: microwave radiation can be converted into an acoustic signal by the human ear under certain conditions ( Frey effect ). It is this effect that most likely occurred in the case of the "Havana syndrome"

What Causes the "Havana Syndrome" and What Do GRU Doctors Have to Do with It

The "Havana syndrome" is such an unusual phenomenon that for a long time researchers doubted that it was real: many attributed it to psychosomatic disorders or misinterpreted side effects of other diseases.

The US intelligence community assembled a group of experts who concluded that the "Havana syndrome" is caused by "a unique combination of characteristics that cannot be explained by known environmental or medical conditions and may be caused by external stimuli.

However, in March 2023, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published a report calling it "highly unlikely" that the "Havana Syndrome" was caused by the influence of a foreign adversary.  

This assessment has shocked hundreds of former and current diplomats, intelligence officers, and their families who believe otherwise. Many of them feel betrayed by their government for failing to identify the perpetrator of their tragedy.

As journalists have found out, one of the most studied cases of the consequences of the "Havana syndrome" was Joy's case, where two clinics independently diagnosed bilateral semicircular canal discrepancy ( Minor syndrome ).  

Investigators emphasize that this is an extremely rare and poorly understood phenomenon that has not been studied in Russia, except for the Kirov Military Medical Academy (VMEDA), where Dr. Sergey Chepur, a permanent consultant to General Averyanov, is a professor.

In any case, it seems a strange coincidence that at the same time Joy was attacked in Tbilisi, which led to her Minor Syndrome, this rare syndrome was being studied by doctors, closely associated with General Averianov and his team

Conclusions

The journalists cannot explain why the Kremlin would need to attack American diplomats. However, from talking to them, the investigators realized that this strategy brought some benefit to Moscow.

At present , many employees do not want to work in the Russian direction, realizing that they may become disabled and not even receive proper assistance - after all, many of the victims faced the fact that their complaints were attributed to a mental disorder.

Now that our investigation has revealed many direct indications that the incidents are linked to the operations of GRU military unit 29155, the U.S. authorities may rethink their attitude to the Havana Syndrome and launch a full investigation into the incidents. The victims themselves hope for this, not only because they do not like being made out to be crazy, but also because they realize that if the US government does not respond to these incidents, they will continue to