A newly revealed incident that took place in Uzbekistan this fall is raising suspicions that Russian intelligence services were involved in a strange series of sonic attacks that were leveled against American diplomats in Cuba earlier this year.
CBS News reports that a USAID officer who worked in the American embassy in Uzbekistan this past September claimed to have experienced "what may have been at least one acoustic attack similar to those experienced by the diplomats in Havana."
The attacks in Cuba, which American intelligence sources believe were caused by some kind of sonic weapon, commonly resulted in symptoms such as hearing loss, nausea, headaches and difficulty maintaining balance. In extreme cases, some victims of the attacks exhibited symptoms of brain trauma.
Although there is no concrete evidence to tie together the incidents in Cuba with what happened to the USAID officer in Uzbekistan, two sources tell CBS News that "the September incident in Tashkent raises concerns Russia may be involved, and could have had a hand in the attacks targeting U.S. government personnel in Cuba-another country where Russia has also exerted growing influence."
Russia has called any suggestion that it played a role in the attacks "absurd," and said it is helping the Cuban government to investigate the incidents that occurred earlier this year.