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Kremlin dismisses report Russia behind ‘Havana Syndrome’

The year-long Insider investigation in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Germany’s Der Spiegel

By Reuters
April 02, 2024
Russia´s President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russia-led security alliance comprising six post-Soviet states, in the Belarusian capital Minsk on November 23, 2023. — AFP
Russia´s President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russia-led security alliance comprising six post-Soviet states, in the Belarusian capital Minsk on November 23, 2023. — AFP

MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Monday dismissed a report that Russian military intelligence may be behind the mysterious “Havana syndrome” ailment that has afflicted US diplomats and spies globally.

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 US 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.”