The previous head of the Pentagon’s investigation into the mysterious well being incidents referred to as Havana Syndrome informed the CBS investigation present “60 Minutes” he believes Russia was behind them and was attacking U.S. officers overseas and at residence.
In partnership with The Insider, a Russian exile media outlet, and German journal Der Spiegel, 60 Minutes reported Sunday night time on new proof connecting a doable home incident of Havana Syndrome to Russia and recognized a Russian navy intelligence unit, recognized as 29155, because the doable wrongdoer of a number of the suspected assaults, the most recent flip in a case that has confounded U.S. spy businesses.
Havana Syndrome bought its title from town the place U.S. and Canadian diplomats and intelligence officers first reported in 2016 experiencing unusual noises and sensations of stress, and later developed debilitating signs like vertigo, migraines and listening to and cognitive issues. The incidents have been later reported world wide, which led to suspicions {that a} overseas adversary, presumably Russia, was attacking U.S. diplomats and spies with some sort of directed power weapon.
Although U.S. intelligence officers initially suspected Russia’s navy intelligence, recognized by the initials GRU, U.S. intelligence businesses stated in March that they hadn’t discovered exhausting proof pointing to these accountable and that it was unlikely {that a} overseas adversary has been attacking American officers world wide.
However the incidents haven’t stopped.
In response to 60 Minutes, a beforehand unreported “anomalous well being incident” — the federal government time period for the Havana Syndrome — on the NATO summit in Lithuania final yr attended by President Joe Biden left a senior Pentagon official searching for medical care.
Greg Edgreen, who ran the investigation into Havana Syndrome for the Protection Intelligence Company from 2021-23, stated that because of the incidents, U.S. officers overseas have been “neutralized.”
When requested by the present’s host, journalist Scott Pelley, if he thought the USA is being attacked, he answered, “My private opinion, sure.” “By whom?” Pelley requested.
“By Russia,” Edgreen stated.
Edgreen warned that there are “no limitations on what Moscow will do,” however he stated that in each the Trump and Biden administrations, the bar to attribute these incidents to Russia was too excessive “as a result of we didn’t, as a rustic, and a authorities, need to face some very exhausting truths,” particularly what to do after such a conclusion.
One other suspected assault that occurred in Florida additionally factors to a Russian hyperlink, 60 Minutes reported.
An energetic unnamed FBI agent informed the present she skilled considered one of these incidents in Florida in 2021 and a yr later in California.
In response to 60 Minutes the agent, recognized on the present solely as Carrie, had been investigating a suspected Russian spy who had come to the USA as a chef, Vitalii Kovalev. He was arrested for dashing at 110 mph within the Florida Keys in June 2020. A video of the arrest obtained by CBS reveals that the police discovered notes about a number of financial institution accounts, his Russian passport, and a tool that may erase the automotive’s pc, together with its GPS document.
The 2 incidents severely affecting the FBI agent’s well being occurred when Kovalev was in jail.
The chef turned out to be a Russian navy electrical engineer with a high safety clearance, Christo Grozev, a journalist with The Insider discovered. Beforehand, as the highest investigative journalist for Bellingcat, the open-source investigation outlet, Grozez uncovered the identities of the Russian operatives who tried to poison the previous Russian spy Sergei Skripal and the late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny.
Kovalev traveled again to Russia after serving a 30-month sentence within the U.S. for evading police and reckless driving, and is believed to have died combating in Ukraine.
Grozev additionally discovered a chunk of accounting linking a high secret GRU unit, 29155, to using non-lethal acoustic weapons and extra proof inserting members of the unit in Tbilisi, Georgia, when Individuals reported incidents there in 2021.
U.S. intelligence businesses beforehand stated Havana Syndrome could possibly be defined away by environmental components, earlier circumstances or stress. However the CIA and different federal businesses are additionally paying compensation to these officers injured world wide after authorities docs licensed that they did undergo mind accidents that haven’t any recognized clarification.
The Protection Division continues to be investigating the “anomalous well being incidents,” which they deal with as “counterintelligence incidents,” and its docs have developed protocols to deal with Havana Syndrome victims. After gathering testimonies from the victims, the Home Intelligence Committee has additionally launched a proper investigation into how U.S. intelligence businesses dealt with the Havana Syndrome Investigation.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer for a dozen Havana Syndrome victims, informed 60 Minutes that there’s proof of a authorities “cover-up.”
Sources informed the Herald that most of the officers injured have been concerned in work associated to Russia or have been stationed in locations the place Russian spies may work with ease, like Cuba, China, Vietnam and most of Europe. Some incidents in Hanoi, Bogota, London and India occurred forward of or in the course of the visits by senior U.S. officers.
Cuba, a detailed Russian navy accomplice, has denied it has any involvement in these incidents and Cuban diplomats and scientists have insisted that accidents are psychosomatic, a case of mass hysteria or will be defined by pre-existing circumstances.
After the Miami Herald reported on the instances of CIA brokers receiving compensation for mind accidents linked to Havana Syndrome instances, Cuba’s Vice International Affairs Minister wrote on X: “With none disgrace, pundits & major media shops proceed to recycle the fabulous legend of “assaults” in opposition to US diplomats. No proof has surfaced, the scientific group has descarted it (sic), but there may be cash to be made & political slander in opposition to #Cuba to be pushed.”