The solution to the “Havana syndrome”. How the GRU cripples American diplomats with secret weapons
Meanwhile, more and more Americans are reporting strange health incidents. In the summer of 2017, several victims appear in Guangzhou at once: some of them say they heard a strange high-pitched sound, unlike anything they had ever heard before. Victims also complained of dizziness, brain fog, headaches, short-term memory loss, insomnia and nausea. One victim reported that she would suddenly lose her balance and sometimes feel a sharp pressure in her ears. As a result, the US State Department had to evacuate more than ten employees from Guangzhou.
There were also similar incidents in Beijing in 2017. At least one American government employee, an employee of the Department of Commerce, reported strange sounds and sudden health problems - nausea, loss of balance, ear pain.
Information about the Chinese incidents is clearly incomplete, there may be more cases than we know today, just as there could be more trips by GRU employees, so it is difficult to make any comparisons between specific episodes and trips of 29155 members to China. Perhaps, thanks to this investigation, other victims will tell their stories, and this will allow us to establish the full picture.
Tbilisi, 2021. Identification of Albert Averyanov
Joy (we'll call her that) moved from the USA to Georgia in February 2020 with her diplomat husband and son. They settled in Tbilisi in a house on a quiet street not far from the embassy. Joy, a doctor by training, worked in a private American clinic.
On October 7, 2021, she was waiting for her son to return from school and washing clothes on the second floor. When she was taking clothes out of the washing machine, turning to the window, she suddenly felt something similar to a powerful sound wave that pierced her head to the left, from the side of the window, filled her with an all-consuming noise and responded with a terrible headache. Joy left the room and went into the bathroom, where the sound seemed to disappear from her head and she vomited. She called her husband, who soon arrived accompanied by security officers at the embassy.
While waiting for her husband, Joy looked outside, noticed a strange car that she had never seen on this street before, and took a photograph of it. Near the car she saw a tall, fair-haired man with a thin build. There was a girl next to him, they were very well dressed, as if they were going to a wedding or a play. When the man saw Joy taking photos of him, he quickly ducked into the car.
From that day until now, Joy has been experiencing severe migraines every day (which she has never had before). Her consciousness is foggy, it is difficult for her to find steps when she goes down the stairs, coordination of movements has been disrupted, and problems with the vestibular system have begun. She often has ringing in her ears and has developed hearing problems. The dizziness was so severe that sometimes it was even difficult for her to turn over in bed. Her hearing has become hypersensitive, and even the sound of the air conditioner sounds to her like the roar of an airplane engine.
At Johns Hopkins University, Joy was diagnosed, later confirmed at the University of Los Angeles: bilateral semicircular canal dehiscence, a very rare disease . It could be congenital, but then the disease would have manifested itself a long time ago, or it could be the result of an injury, but Joy had no injuries. She had to have surgery and have metal plates inserted on both sides of her skull. This alleviated the symptoms, but did not eliminate them completely.
American investigators were unable to determine what caused the incident. However, as The Insider found out, by a strange coincidence, GRU officers from unit 29155 were in Georgia at that moment.
On September 30, 2021, General Andrei Averyanov, head of military unit 29155, went on a work trip. At the same time, his son Albert Averyanov, whom his father took into his unit several years ago, also flew out of Moscow. Albert, despite his young age (then he was 21 years old), had already gained serious experience: while still a student at Moscow State University, in 2017–2018 he unofficially “trained” in Geneva under the supervision of the above-mentioned Yegor Gordienko, who was then working in Geneva under the cover of the second Trade Representative of Russia at the WTO. After this, Albert became an active member of the group (as can be seen from his calls and fellow travelers), although, unlike the others, he continues to lead a completely public lifestyle, flies abroad under his real name, plays football with friends for the Evian team ( 29 goals per year) . 60 matches), takes his girlfriend Nastya for a ride in his Mercedes-Benz ML/GLE - hardly any of his classmates knew about his secret life. At the time of the events described, Albert had just completed his master’s degree at the Faculty of Global Processes at Moscow State University (the topic of his thesis was “Formation and institutionalization of the global level of management of migration processes”).
