Sitrep: Russian poisoning unit's fingerprints 'all over' mysterious Havana Syndrome

A Russian military intelligence unit that was responsible for the Salisbury poisoning attack is now being linked to a mysterious spate of illnesses suffered by Western security officials.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former commanding officer of the UK's joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, was speaking on the latest episode of the Sitrep podcast - which analyses the top defence stories of the week and is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Havana Syndrome, which sees the sufferer experience unexplained fatigue, dizziness and a painful buzzing sound in their ears, was first reported by personnel stationed in Cuba in 2016.

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Since then, a number of US intelligence agency officials have reported symptoms of the illness.

But now, a new journalist-led investigation has claimed a link to the Salisbury nerve agent poisonings.

It claims Unit 29155, a Russian military intelligence unit, could be responsible for using directed energy weapons, or non-lethal acoustics, leaving people suffering from Havana Syndrome.

This would take the shape of both sound and radio frequencies which are directed towards an intended target.

Mr de Bretton-Gordon told the podcast the unit is infamous for the assassinations of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, double agent Sergei Skripal in the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury and the attempted assassination of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

"They are a very interesting bunch of people, variously described as a sabotage unit or assassination units linked to too many incidents," he said.

"This does sound all a bit sort of James Bond-y, but actually this is the way that the Russian secret service operates.

"This is a unit that doesn't go around shooting people, but seems to use some of the most incredible devices to try and kill people.

“A lot of it is about deniability or coupled with also putting propaganda or disinformation. 

"I'm sure people are saying 'is this what the British secret service and Americans get up to?'.

"Well, not in the same vein, but this is absolutely out of the Russian secret service playbook. 

"29155 are well known for it and seem to be picked up... with unerring regularity and detail, almost as though actually having them out there is part of their mystique and terror rather than trying to go under the radar."

It was also reported this week that a senior Pentagon official suffered symptoms of Havana syndrome at the last Nato summit in Lithuania. 

Mr de Bretton-Gordon said he "would be very surprised" if Russia could do that, but said "we should not underestimate the capabilities of the Russian Secret Service and of this particular unit".

Mr de Bretton-Gordon said the investigation still leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but the investigation's theory that it is the work of Unit 29155 is credible.

"There seem to be a lot of people who have been quite badly affected by this," he said.

"Nobody really knows what it's all about. The CIA and the British secret intelligence services aren't saying an awful lot about it.

"It might well be that actually our security services know more than they're letting on at the moment.

"It is being done in the shadows. 

"It would appear that most of the casualties are FBI and CIA, and nobody really knows how it's done except that this unit and its members … keep appearing on the world stage which links it back to them."

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