The Kremlin on Monday denied a report that Russia’s military intelligence service could be behind the mysterious “Havana Syndrome”, a disease that has afflicted US diplomats and spies around the world.
Insider, a Russia-focused investigative group based in Riga, Latvia, reported that members of a Russian military intelligence unit (GRU) known as 29155 were positioned at the scene of reported health incidents involving U.S. personnel.
Insider’s year-long investigation, in collaboration with the US program 60 Minutes and the German magazine Der Spiegel, also claimed that senior members of Unit 29155 received awards and promotions for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons”. .
“This is not even a new issue. For many years, the topic of the so-called ‘Havana Syndrome’ has been exaggerated in the press and, from the beginning, has been linked to accusations against the Russian side,” a spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the report.
“But no one has ever published or expressed convincing evidence about these unsubstantiated accusations anywhere,” Peskov said.
“So all of this is just more baseless accusations from the press.”
In Washington, the Pentagon confirmed that one of its senior officials had symptoms similar to those associated with “Havana Syndrome” during the NATO summit in Vilnius last year.
Symptoms of the disease include migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness.
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