[ad_1]
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP
Russia is accused of using a secret “microwave weapon” to attack two CIA agents in Australia as part of a worldwide campaign that has allegedly caused brain injuries to diplomats and spies.
The so-called Havana syndrome has been reported for years after American diplomats stationed in Cuba suddenly began hearing strange screeches and squeaks that always occurred while at home or in hotels.
read more
• ‘Microwave weapons’ could be to blame for attacks on US diplomats
• Diplomats’ brain scans show differences and add to the mystery of Cuba
• Two sicker US diplomats due to unexplained health attacks in Cuba
• Experts baffled by Cuba’s ‘sonic attacks’
What happened next was terrifying, the victims suffered from headaches, memory and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping for years. Some have been left in a wheelchair, while others have been forced to wear weighted vests to correct their balance.
But it is the first time that the mysterious attacks on Australian soil have been reported.
According to a report by GQ magazine, The Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion, one of the two US agents who believe they were attacked is so important that he is among the top five CIA officials.
Journalist Julia Ioffe said the two men were in Australia for talks with ASIO and other intelligence agencies under the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.
“In the fall of 2019, two senior CIA officials, both in the clandestine service, traveled to Australia to meet with officials from that country’s spy agency,” he wrote.
“While in their hotel rooms in Australia, both Americans felt it: the strange sound, the pressure in the head, the ringing in the ears. According to these sources, they felt nauseous and dizzy.”
Another CIA officer, Marc Polymeropoulos, who helped run clandestine operations in Russia and Europe, claims to have been attacked in December 2017 in Russia.
He reportedly suffered severe vertigo in his Moscow hotel room and developed debilitating migraines that forced him to retire from the CIA.
“These injuries, and subsequent treatment by the United States government, have been a living nightmare for these dedicated public servants and their families,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, of New Hampshire.
“It is obvious that an American adversary would have much to gain from the disorder, anguish and division that has followed.”
But critics have been skeptical for years, suggesting that behind the Cuban reports there was “mass hysteria.”
Last year, a study published in the Journal of American Medicine Association found that the alleged victims’ symptoms could not be dismissed as psychosomatic.
“Among US government personnel in Havana, Cuba, with possible exposure to directional phenomena … advanced brain MRI techniques revealed significant neuroimaging differences in whole brain white matter volume, regional volume gray and white matter, microstructural integrity of cerebellar tissue, and functional connectivity in the auditory system and visuospatial subnets, but not in the executive control subnetwork, “the study found.
“The clinical significance of these differences is unclear and may require further study.”
For the alleged victims, the fight for compensation and medical treatment continues, and the CIA continues to refuse to accept that Russia is involved.
In a statement to GQ, the US State Department said: “The safety and security of US personnel, their families and US citizens is our highest priority. The US government has not yet determined a cause or an actor.” .