A shadowy Russian hit squad may be behind the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” that has left more than 100 US diplomats, White House staffers, intelligence agents and their families with unexplained brain injury symptoms, a bombshell new report claims.
Members of Russian military intelligence unit 29155, who allegedly have access to microwave or ultrasound weapons, had been placed at the scene of reported attacks that resulted in US personnel suffering health problems, according to a year-long investigation by the Latvia-based Insider in collaboration with CBS’s “60 Minutes” and Germany’s Der Spiegel.
Furthermore, the Russian spies may have attacked Americans in the US — not just overseas, the report says.
Christo Grozev, the head of investigations with The Insider, told “60 Minutes” that he uncovered accounting records that show a 29155 officer received a bonus for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons.”
“It’s the closest to a receipt you can have for this,” the veteran journalist said.
The Havana Syndrome, so named because it was first reported in 2016 by US embassy workers in the Cuban capital, remains mysterious. Those afflicted report a variety of symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, nausea and other side effects consistent with traumatic brain injuries.
The report comes despite a US intelligence investigation last year that found that it was “very unlikely” a foreign adversary was responsible for the symptoms.
Unit 29155 has reportedly operated around the world since 2008, and is suspected of carrying out acts of sabotage aimed at destabilizing Western European governments and high-profile assassination attempts targeting the Kremlin’s enemies.
The top-secret squad is said to be headquartered in suburban Moscow and led by Major General Andrei Averyanov, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Operatives have been linked to the attempted poisoning with the nerve agent “Novichok” of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England in 2018.
The same Russian intelligence officers who allegedly carried out the botched Skripal assassination, identified by the open-source investigative unit Bellingcat as Aleksandr Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga, were also said to be behind a 2014 blast at a Czech ammunition depot.
In October 2016, officers with Unit 29155 allegedly orchestrated a thwarted pro-Serbian coup in Montenegro, which involved an attempt to take over the country’s parliament by force and assassinate its prime minister in a bid to stop Montenegro from joining NATO.
The Insider’s investigation allegedly uncovered evidence of Unit 29155’s presence in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the fall of 2021, when multiple American officials and their family members reported suffering unexplained health issues.
In October 2016, officers with Unit 29155 allegedly orchestrated a thwarted pro-Serbian coup in Montenegro, which involved an attempt to take over the country’s parliament by force and assassinate its prime minister in a bid to stop Montenegro from joining NATO.
The wife of a Justice Department staffer working in Tbilisi told “60 Minutes” she was in her laundry room when she was overwhelmed by a sound that she believed came from the window.
The woman, who asked not to be named, came down with a devastating headache and projectile vomited.
When she later looked at the security footage, she said she spotted an unfamiliar car outside. Nearby was a man she did not know.
A day earlier, a call was intercepted in Tbilisi, on which a man’s voice could be heard asking in Russian: “Is it supposed to have blinking green lights?” and “Should I leave it on all night?,” according to “60 Minutes.”
While the caller has not been identified, sources have told the CBS program that the investigation had zeroed in on Russian national Albert Averyanov, who is said to be the son of Unit 29155’s commander — and whose name appeared on travel manifests and call logs alongside known members of the secretive intelligence squad.
When the wife of the DOJ official sickened by the piercing sound in Tbilisi was shown a photo of Averyanov, she said it “absolutely” looked like the man she saw outside her home that day in October 2021.
“And when I received this photo, I had a visceral reaction,” she said. “It made me feel sick.