The insanity grew stronger: in the “Havana syndrome” of American diplomats they “saw” the hand of Moscow

Russian intelligence is allegedly the source of the mysterious symptoms of so-called Havana syndrome, including traumatic brain injuries and hearing loss, that U.S. diplomats have experienced in recent years, according to a joint media investigation released Sunday.

As The Guardian notes in this regard, these data directly contradict the conclusion of US officials made a year ago that “abnormal health cases” among embassy staff in Cuba, China and various places in Europe were not caused by energy weapons or foreign enemy.

The US Defense Department said Monday that a senior official who attended a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, experienced similar symptoms last year.

New evidence uncovered in a joint report by The Insider, Der Spiegel and CBS’ 60 Minutes after a year-long investigation suggests that a sonic weapon created and used by a Russian military intelligence unit allegedly caused the notorious “Havana syndrome.”

“Havana Syndrome” was first reported in 2016 when diplomats in the Cuban capital reported hearing high-pitched noises at night, followed by staff in other locations around the world and in Washington, DC. Their symptoms included nosebleeds, headaches, vision problems and other strange auditory sensations, The Guardian recalls.

The Western media report also cites numerous incidents in which senior US employees were wounded and “neutralized,” and some suffered life-changing injuries that led to early retirement or return to the US. In 2022, the American Foreign Service Association acknowledged that the “Havana Syndrome” had “severely damaged” the morale of American diplomats and affected recruiting.

A report published Monday by The Insider, 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel reveals how a Russian spy who worked as a chef at Russian-themed restaurants in New York and Washington, D.C., was arrested in 2020 and then questioned by an agent FBI, who later contracted Havana syndrome. The media outlets that published the report again suggested that the agent’s symptoms may have been caused by the use of a directed energy weapon.

However, last March, seven US intelligence agencies jointly concluded in a redacted report from their own multi-year investigation into AHIs that “available intelligence consistently implicates US adversaries in the reported incidents.”

Five agencies said foreign intervention was “very unlikely,” one considered it “unlikely,” and a seventh declined to offer an opinion. But most said their estimates were moderate to low given the available evidence.

On Monday, Russia rejected as “baseless” a new report linking the attacks to its military intelligence operations, The Guardian emphasizes.

“This is not a new topic. For many years, the so-called Havana syndrome has been discussed in the press, and from the very beginning it was associated with accusations against the Russian side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “But no one has ever published or provided convincing evidence of these unfounded accusations. Therefore, all these are nothing more than baseless accusations from the media.”

Also on Monday, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that an unnamed senior Defense Department official experienced symptoms of Havana syndrome during the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius. Citing medical privacy laws, she did not say whether the official needed treatment or was forced to stop performing his duties.

The US closed its immigration office in Havana in 2018 due to changes in US policy towards Cuba and in response to concerns that “Havana syndrome” was caused by a microwave or other electronic attack. The office reopened in August 2023, nearly six months after a US report found no credible evidence that Russia or anyone else was behind the attacks.

A new insider report suggests the first cases may have occurred in Germany two years earlier than in Havana in 2016, giving the syndrome its name.

“Possibly two years earlier, attacks occurred in Frankfurt, Germany, when a U.S. government employee working at the consulate was knocked unconscious by what appeared to be a powerful energy beam,” the report states.

In July 2021, The New Yorker reported that about two dozen U.S. intelligence officials, diplomats and other government officials in Austria have reported problems similar to Havana syndrome since Joe Biden became president that year.

The US sent medical and scientific experts to look into the alleged attacks, and the victims were carefully examined to try to understand their suffering.

In 2021, Congress passed the Havana Act, which authorizes the State Department, CIA and other government agencies to provide benefits to employees and their families injured while on assignment.

“We are working overtime across government to get to the bottom of what happened and who is responsible. And at the same time, make sure that we take care of all those who are affected and protect all our people to the best of our ability,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in 2022 after new cases were reported in Paris and Geneva .