Did American diplomats in Cuba get sick from a mysterious Russian weapon?

The investigation is the work of journalists TheInsider, Der Spiegeland the CBS program 60 Minutes, who have been looking for the sources of the diplomats’ sudden and inexplicable health complaints. They show that Russia is working on ‘acoustic weapons’, and argue that it is ‘plausible’ that it is using them. Critics don’t think that’s proof, and they’re still not convinced.

The ‘Havana syndrome’ takes its name from the capital of Cuba, where the complaints first emerged in 2016. Havana sounded exciting (Graham Greene wrote a spy novel titled Our Man in Havana), but in the latest study, researchers report that the phenomenon may have first occurred two years earlier, in Frankfurt. An American diplomat was knocked unconscious there by what may have been ‘a strong energy beam’.

The symptoms can be severe. Diplomats suddenly developed similar, abnormal complaints: tinnitus, nosebleeds, headaches, nausea, hearing loss, and some even became unconscious. After 2016, theories immediately emerged about some kind of sonar weapon or a weapon that could deliver a strong burst of radio waves. The first suspect was Russia, which strongly denied it.

In 2017, the United States withdrew most of its diplomats from Cuba, citing changes in Cuba policy, but also out of fear that Havana Syndrome might be caused by micro-radio waves or some other electronic attack, reports The Guardian. In 2022, a US intelligence agency reported that ‘some cases of Havana syndrome’ could have been caused by a ‘strong focused energy beam’.

In 2023, on the other hand, an investigative report was published in which seven American intelligence services had participated. They had examined 1,500 cases, in 96 countries, on five continents, and concluded almost unanimously (one agency withheld judgment) that it was “highly unlikely” that a hostile country possessed an unknown “sonar weapon” capable of it shot at diplomats.

Journalists from TheInsider, Der Spiegel and 60 Minutes now say, barely a year later, that they have strong indications that a sound weapon was indeed used. They point to Unit 29155: a special unit that conducts operations abroad. TheInsider describes that the officers of this unit were observed by a victim. Members of the same unit are said to have been decorated in Russia for their work on developing a ‘non-lethal acoustic weapon’. Such a sound weapon would therefore exist, and would be a ‘plausible explanation’ for the Havana syndrome.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday called the investigation’s conclusions nonsense. American security services are also not convinced. They maintain to CBS that it is ‘very unlikely that a foreign opponent is responsible’.