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The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) , William Burns , delivered a secret warning to Russian intelligence services that they will face “consequences” if they are responsible for the mysterious health incidents known as “Havana Syndrome” that have affected spies, diplomats, FBI agents and other U.S. officials around the world, said three sources familiar with the matter.
The warning was first reported by The Washington Post.
Burns raised the issue during a visit to Moscow this month, the sources said, while speaking with senior officials from Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, and its Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR.
Sources said Burns told these to work It is the Russians that harming American personnel and their families would violate unwritten rules of acceptable behavior for professional intelligence services. If the Russians were found to be responsible, he said, there would be repercussions.
Victims suffering from Havana syndrome have reported hearing a loud sound and feeling pressure on their head and then experiencing dizziness, unsteady gait, and visual disturbances. Many say they have suffered debilitating effects for a long time.
The fact that Burns issued the warning saying “yes” suggests that after four years of investigations across multiple administrations, the United States government remains unable to determine the cause of the unusual incidents.
However, the director’s decision to raise the possibility of Russian participation directly to his counterparts in Moscow underscored the CIA’s deep suspicion of the Kremlin’s guilt
Moscow has denied any involvement in the incidents of the Havana syndrome, a phenomenon named after the Cuban capital, where diplomats and US intelligence officials reported for the first time unusual and varied symptoms, from headaches and vision problems to dizziness and brain injuries, which started at 2016.