60 Minutes Links Russia to ‘Havana Syndrome’ With Dramatic Car Chase as Evidence

A 60 Minutes report that aired Sunday night included allegations that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is behind the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” illness that some believe has incapacitated scores of U.S. agents and military personnel stationed overseas.

The illnesses have been dubbed “Havana Syndrome” because they were first reported at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.

One FBI agent described her symptoms as beginning in her right ear, explaining, “It was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it gets too close to your eardrum? It’s like that, times 10.”

CBS’ Scott Pelley spoke with Retired Army Lt. Col. Greg Edgreen who said he believes Russia was behind the attacks.

“One of the things I started to notice was the caliber of our officer that was being impacted,” Edgreen said. “This wasn’t happening to our worst or our middle-range officers. This was happening to our top 5, 10% performing officers across the defense intelligence agency. And consistently, there was a Russia nexus. There was some angle where they had worked against Russia, focused on Russia, and done extremely well.”

Pelley asked about the impact of the alleged attacks on national security.

“The impact has been that the intelligence officers and our diplomats working abroad, are being removed from their posts with traumatic brain injuries. Being neutralized,” Edgreen said.

He alleged that the bar for proof was set so high because the U.S. didn’t want to admit to “possible failures to protect Americans.”

“Unfortunately I can’t get into specifics, based on the classification,” Edgreen said. “But I can tell you at a very early stage, I started to focus on Moscow.”

The 60 Minutes report showed a dramatic police chase near Key West, FL, in 2020, to catch an alleged Russian spy named Vitalii Kovalev, who authorities believed may have had knowledge of the attacks. After Kovalev was caught, “a search of the car found notes related to bank accounts along with a device capable of erasing the car’s computerized data, including its GPS records,” CBS reported.

Kovalev was interrogated by the FBI and spent 30 months in jail before being released. He then ignored U.S. warnings and headed back to Russia in 2022. The 60 Minutes report said a death certificate showed Kovalev was killed at the front in Ukraine.

The United States denied any foreign country was responsible for the illnesses: a statement from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence to 60 Minutes said it was “very unlikely a foreign adversary” was responsible.

The report was part of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel.

Watch the clip above via CBS Mornings.