Kremlin dismisses report Russia behind 'Havana Syndrome'

[April 01, 2024]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday dismissed a report that Russian military intelligence may be behind the mysterious "Havana syndrome" ailment that has afflicted U.S. diplomats and spies globally.  

A pedestrian walks with an umbrella outside the Embassy of the Russian Federation, near the Glover Park neighborhood of Washington, U.S., February 22, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

Insider, a Russia-focused investigative media group based in Riga, Latvia reported that members of a Russian military intelligence (GRU) unit known as 29155 had been placed at the scene of reported health incidents involving U.S. personnel.

The year-long Insider investigation in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Germany's Der Spiegel also reported that senior members of Unit 29155 received awards and promotions for work related to the development of "non-lethal acoustic weapons".

"This is not a new topic at all; for many years the topic of the so-called 'Havana Syndrome' has been exaggerated in the press, and from the very beginning it was linked to accusations against the Russian side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the report.

"But no one has ever published or expressed any convincing evidence of these unfounded accusations anywhere," Peskov said. "Therefore, all this is nothing more than baseless, unfounded accusations by the media."

A U.S. intelligence investigation whose findings were released last year found that it was "very unlikely" a foreign adversary was responsible for the ailment, first reported by U.S. embassy officials in the Cuban capital Havana in 2016.

Symptoms of the ailment have included migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness.

The Insider report said the first incident of "Havana Syndrome" symptoms may have happened earlier than 2016.

It said "there were likely attacks two years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany, when a U.S. government employee stationed at the consulate there was knocked unconscious by something akin to a strong energy beam".

U.S. Congress passed the Havana Act in 2021 authorising the State Department, CIA and other U.S. government agencies to provide payments to staff and their families affected by the ailment during assignment.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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