Havana Syndrome in Vietnam: Possible Russian role in attack on Americans, according to new evidence

Russian nexus revealed during 60 Minutes Havana Syndrome investigation into potential attacks on U.S. officials

This report is the result of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel

A lead U.S. military investigator examining reports of what has become known as Havana Syndrome told 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officials are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to prove it was set impossibly high.

Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Army lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officials refer to as “anomalous health incidents,” said the bar for proof was set so high because the country doesn’t want to face some very hard truths, like the existence of 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.”

A 2023 government report deemed it “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was behind the mysterious brain injuries suffered by U.S. national security officials, yet more than 100 Americans have symptoms scientists say could be caused by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are frustrated that the government publicly doubts an adversary is targeting Americans. The ongoing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new evidence pointing toward Russia.

Are we being attacked?

White House staff, CIA officers, FBI agents, and military officers and their families are among those who believe they were wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.

Edgreen said the officers targeted were top performers.

“And consistently there was a Russia nexus,” he said. “There was some angle where they had worked against Russia, focused on Russia, and done extremely well.”

Greg Edgreen and Scott Pelley

60 Minutes

Last year, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Multiple sources told 60 Minutes that a high-level Department of Defense official was struck during the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.

“It tells me that there are no barriers on what Moscow will do, on who they will attack, and that if we don’t face this head on, the problem is going to get worse,” Edgreen said.

60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the last name of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome victim who is still an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case also points to Russia.

She said she was home in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling force.

“And bam, inside my right ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it gets too close to your eardrum? It’s like that, times 10,” she said.

At the same time, she said, the battery in her phone began to swell until it broke the case. Finally, she passed out on a couch. Because of chest pain, she was checked by a cardiologist, and then returned to duty. For months, she complained to her colleagues of memory issues and problems multitasking.

“My baseline changed,” she said. “I was not the same person.”

60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the last name of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome victim who is still an FBI agent working in counterintelligence.

60 Minutes

She spoke with the FBI’s permission but wasn’t allowed to talk about the investigations she was working on when she was hit. 60 Minutes learned from other sources, one of them involved Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught speeding in a Ford Mustang near Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed car chase, 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. There was also a Russian passport found.

The investigation into Kovalev

What 60 Minutes has learned along with investigative partner Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative magazine by Russian exiles, suggests that Kovalev was a Russian spy.

Kovalev studied in a military institute, learning about radio electronics, said Grozev, who’s renowned for his experience unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a military institute, Kovalev suddenly became a chef in New York and Washington.

“It is not an easy job to just leave that behind. Once you’re in the military, and you’ve been trained, and the Ministry of Defense has invested in you, you remain at their beck and call for the rest of your life,” Grozev said.

It’s not clear what Kovalev might have been up to, but sources told 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources said had investigated several Russian spies for the FBI.

Kovalev received 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went back to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was in danger because he’d spent so much time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a death certificate from last year, which says Kovalev was killed at the front in Ukraine.

“One theory is that he was sent there in order for him to be disposed of,” Grozev said.

Christo Grozev is a journalist for The Insider, an investigative magazine by Russian exiles.

60 Minutes

Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” attorney who holds a security clearance, has more than two dozen clients suffering symptoms of Havana Syndrome. He said victims include members of the CIA, State Department and FBI.

“The one thread that I know of with the FBI personnel that is common among most, if not all, of my clients other than the family members connected to the employee, was they were all doing something relating to Russia,” Zaid said.

Russian intelligence unit 29155

If it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is involved. Grozev has a long track record of uncovering Russian documents and reveals he found one that may link the 29155 unit to a directed energy weapon.

It’s a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer received a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”

“It’s the closest to a receipt you can have for this,” Grozev said.

There’s also evidence 29155 may have been present in Tbilisi, Georgia when Americans reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 were there to facilitate, supervise, or possibly personally implement attacks on American officials using an acoustic weapon.

Sources have told 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose name appears on travel manifests and phone records alongside known members of 29155. He’s also the son of the unit’s commander.

Incidents began in Tbilisi the day after a phone call, which was intercepted. Sources said a man on the call asked in Russian: “Is it supposed to have blinking green lights?” and “should I leave it on all night?”

The next day, a U.S. official, their spouse, and their child were hit. That same week, the wife of a Justice Department official, who asked “60 Minutes” to withhold her name over safety concerns, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.

“And it just pierced my ears, came in my left side, felt like it came through the window, into my left ear,” she said.

She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.

Afterward, she looked at the security camera and spotted a vehicle outside she didn’t recognize. There was also a man nearby. 60 Minutes sent a photo of Averyanov to the woman, who said it “absolutely” looks like the man she spotted outside.

“And when I received this photo, I had a visceral reaction,” she said. “It made me feel sick. I cannot absolutely say for certainty that it is this man, but I can tell you that even to this day, looking at him makes me feel that same visceral reaction. And I can absolutely say that this looks like the man that I saw in the street.”

Grozev found Averyanov’s phone was turned off during the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s evidence someone in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s personal email during this time. Grozev believes this was most likely Averyanov himself—placing him in the city.

Has there been a cover-up?

Despite incidents like the ones in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence assessment released last year found that it was “very unlikely” a foreign adversary is responsible. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence agencies have only “low” or “moderate” confidence in that conclusion.

This month, the National Institutes of Health reported results of brain scans on patients with symptoms. NIH said there’s no evidence of physical damage. The medical science of so-called anomalous health incidents remains vigorously debated. For its part, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence says the injuries suffered by victims are probably the result of “preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses and environmental factors.”

But Zaid, who’s representing more than two dozen anomalous health incident clients, said he doesn’t believe the entire story is in the U.S. intelligence assessment. Zaid said he knows of classified information that undermines or contradicts what’s been said publicly.

“There is, in my view, without a doubt, evidence of a cover up. Now, some of that cover up is not necessarily that, ‘oh, we found a weapon,'” Zaid said. “What I’ve seen more so is, ‘we see lines of inquiry that would take us potentially to answers we don’t want to have to deal with, so we’re not going to explore any of those avenues.'”

As with all spy stories, much is classified and what remains is circumstantial. None of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with wanted to come forward, but they all felt compelled to shine a light on what they see as a war of shadows — a war America may not be winning.

“If this is what we’ve seen with the hundreds of cases of anomalous health incidents, I can assure that this has become probably Putin’s biggest victory,” Grozev said. “In his own mind this has been Russia’s biggest victory against the West.”

Statements from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the White House, and the FBI

In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Community’s Annual Threat Assessment commentary on anomalous health incidents. The assessment was released earlier this month and states:

“We continue to closely examine anomalous health incidents (AHIs), particularly in areas we have identified as requiring additional research and analysis. Most IC agencies have concluded that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs. IC agencies have varying confidence levels because we still have gaps given the challenges collecting on foreign adversaries—as we do on many issues involving them. As part of its review, the IC identified critical assumptions surrounding the initial AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, but were not borne out by subsequent medical and technical analysis. In light of this and the evidence that points away from a foreign adversary, causal mechanism, or unique syndromes linked to AHIs, IC agencies assess those symptoms reported by U.S. personnel probably were the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary. These findings do not call into question the very real experiences and symptoms that our colleagues and their family members have reported. We continue to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating resources and expertise across the government, pursuing multiple lines of inquiry and seeking information to fill the gaps we have identified.”

In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White House spokesperson responded:

“At the start of the Biden-Harris Administration and again following the 2023 Intelligence Community assessment, the White House has directed departments and agencies across the federal government to prioritize investigations into the cause of AHIs and to examine reports thoroughly; to ensure that U.S. Government personnel and their families who report AHIs receive the support and timely access to medical care that they need; and to take reports of AHIs seriously and treat personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasize the importance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively examine the effects and potential causes of AHIs.”

In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:

“The issue of Anomalous Health Incidents is a top priority for the FBI, as the protection, health and well-being of our employees and colleagues across the federal government is paramount. We will continue to work alongside our partners in the intelligence community as part of the interagency effort to determine how we can best protect our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. government personnel who report symptoms seriously. In keeping with this practice, the FBI has messaged its workforce on how to respond if they experience an AHI, how to report an incident, and where they can receive medical evaluations for symptoms or persistent effects.”

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Havana Syndrome in Vietnam: Possible Russian role in attack on Americans, according to new evidence

U.S. officials in Vietnam were injured in a Havana Syndrome style attack ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2021 trip to Hanoi. Now, new evidence suggests Russia may have been involved — and that it may have been the Vietnamese themselves who were given technology that could have caused the injuries.

At the time, the U.S. embassy in Hanoi announced that a possible “anomalous health incident,” the federal government’s term for so-called Havana Syndrome attacks, was slowing Harris’s arrival in Vietnam. 60 Minutes has learned that 11 people reported being struck in separate incidents before Harris entered the country: two people who were officials at the American embassy in Hanoi, and nine people who were part of a Defense Department advance team preparing for Harris’s visit.

While at least some of the injured U.S. personnel were medevaced out of the country, Harris was unharmed and continued her trip to Hanoi after a three-hour delay in Singapore.

Symptoms of Havana Syndrome often include nausea, dizziness, migraines, and problems with vision and hearing that can persist over a long period of time. While U.S. officials cannot confirm what causes it, experts 60 Minutes has spoken with believe the incidents involve targeted sonic or microwave attacks.

60 Minutes has been investigating these attacks for more than five years. For the latest report, which aired on the broadcast this week, producers Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados teamed up with Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist who currently leads investigative work for The Insider. Grozev is well-known for his investigation into the poisoning of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

As 60 Minutes investigated the Hanoi incident, a source suggested that the Vietnamese themselves had been given some kind of technology that may have caused the “Havana Syndrome” attack. According to the source, the Vietnamese may have been told to use the technology to listen in on the Americans ahead of Harris’s trip — but they may not have known this the technology could harm the people they were using it on.

In his research, Grozev found a document that seems to indicate this theory may be correct.

Five months before Harris’s visit to Hanoi, an email was sent to the Security Council of Russia, the body of top Russian officials who head the country’s defense and security agencies.

According to Grozev, a document within the email shows that Russian intelligence lobbied for and received permission from President Vladimir Putin to provide exclusive technology to Vietnamese security services. Among the list of recommended technologies to be shared were “LRAD acoustic emitters” and “short-wave equipment for scanning the human body.”

LRAD, which stands for “long-range acoustic device,” is a military-grade sonic weapon that discharges a targeted beam of sound at extremely high volume. An LRAD device was used to thwart a pirate attack on a cruise ship in 2005, and since then, the U.S. military has used the devices to send warnings in the field, such as cautioning people away from an Army base perimeter. But when left on at its highest volume, some LRAD systems can produce a sound pressure level of 162 decibels. The human pain threshold is about 130 decibels.

Based on his research, Grozev said he suspects Russia is sending weapons technology like this, which may be used in Havana Syndrome attacks, to foreign governments.

“I believe that Russia is assisting other governments with some operations that those governments may want to do on their own, and in this way establishing loyalty from these governments for future operations that Russia might need on their territory,” Grozev told 60 Minutes.

Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Greg Edgreen ran an investigation for the Defense Intelligence Agency into anomalous health incidents, which have been referred to as Havana Syndrome attacks because they were first reported by American officials based in the U.S. embassy in Cuba in 2016. He told 60 Minutes he also believes Russians were involved in the 2021 attack in Vietnam.

“They saw us getting closer and closer to Cuba, and they wanted to stop it…” Edgreen said. “Then they tried to follow up and do the same thing with Vietnam, another long-term strategic ally to Hanoi, by disrupting Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Vietnam.”

While running the military investigation into anomalous health incidents, Edgreen said the Pentagon supported his investigation into whether Russia was behind the attacks. But the Trump and Biden administrations set the bar for proof impossibly high, he said.

Grozev believes the U.S. government would require a very high threshold of certainty before they could acknowledge the Kremlin’s role — because of what will happen if they do.

“Once you admit that this happened, it is a Pandora[‘s] box,” Grozev said. “It requires you to confront the fact that you have your arch enemy acting against your own people, your own intelligence workers, on your territory, and this is nothing other than a declaration of war.”

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Havana Syndrome in Vietnam: Possible Russian role in attack on Americans, according to new evidence

Havana Syndrome in Vietnam: Possible Russian role in attack on Americans, according to new evidence – CBS News

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Eleven U.S. officials were injured in a Havana Syndrome-style attack ahead of VP Kamala Harris’s 2021 trip to Hanoi. A newly discovered document suggests Russia may have been involved.

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Barrage of Russian attacks aims to cut Ukraine’s lights

In central Kharkiv you hear the rattle of generators on every street.

Ten days ago, Ukraine’s second city was plunged into darkness by a massive, targeted Russian missile attack on the energy system – it was the biggest since the start of the full-scale war.

As Kharkiv works to restore power, there has been a wave of additional strikes across the country targeting the energy supply.

Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned what he calls Russia’s “missile terror”.

The Ukrainian president has also renewed his calls to his country’s allies for more air defence systems as protection.

The authorities in Odesa on the Black Sea in the south of the country say the energy system there was the latest to be hit overnight, with missiles and drones, causing partial blackouts.

In Kharkiv to the north, the damage is more serious.

Kharkiv’s mayor, Igor Terekhov, has said it will take weeks to restore full supply and that is if Russia’s armed forces don’t strike the same targets again.

The initial attack on the city’s energy supply even knocked out the air raid siren. There is now a screeching noise that comes straight to people’s mobile phones instead.

There can be hours of those missile warnings in the city each day – during one on Saturday night, the blast wave from a strike blew out dozens of windows in a block of flats.

But the Russians have increasingly been aiming at the power grid.

“The damage is very serious,” Mr Terekhov told the BBC.

“We need time to repair it,” he added, suggesting that meant a couple more months at least.

Russia’s defence ministry confirms that its latest strikes have been focused on Ukraine’s power supply. It says the aim is to disrupt the work of the country’s defence industry and claims that “all aims of the strike were achieved”.

The ministry has a long history of disinformation.

But the Kharkiv mayor did tell the BBC that the city’s manufacturing sector, which requires significant power, has been affected by the blackouts. There are no further details.

Blackout periods

The impact on civilian life is more obvious.

Blackout periods have been introduced in order to conserve energy, and there is a schedule for the city. On Saturday those power cuts lasted six hours, but by Sunday they had been reduced to four hours.

The timings can slip.

“They were supposed to cut the power to my area at 09:00, so I got up especially early to charge everything,'” a friend messaged. “Then I got in the lift and got stuck. They’d cut the power early!”

A hair salon in a Kharkiv back street is one of many small businesses with a generator whirring noisily outside the door. On Saturday it was on for seven hours, allowing the salon to keep operating.

The same goes for cafés and companies throughout the city centre, although many have sheets of wood over their windows to cover a gap where the glass has already been shattered or to protect it from future blasts.

Some of the boards are painted with birds and flowers.

“We’ve been working on generator power since Monday,” salon owner Natalia told the BBC. “Of course it’s really hard, especially because we’re all women and when we finish work late at night it’s so dark!”

Russia has attacked Ukraine’s power grid before, in the first winter of the full-scale war.

As engineers scrambled to perform emergency repairs then, residents shivered in the dark in their homes or headed for central “invincibility points” for warmth and power.

Hope for a ‘quiet night’

It is much warmer now but the impact is still significant; when night falls, whole areas of Kharkiv remain pitch dark.

That affects people’s mood as much as it makes life awkward.

“The Russians have got new weapons,” a student called Liza worries, in one of Kharkiv’s central squares.

There’s a lot of chatter here about whether new, gliding bombs used by Moscow might bring even more devastation to Ukraine.

“People are depressed and thinking about leaving Kharkiv for a while. We notice that our army is struggling.”

The city authorities are determined to keep spirits up, as much as possible.

Within hours of the latest missile strike this weekend, dozens of workmen were clearing up the mess around the apartment block and sawing wood to seal windows.

The city metro is already running and electric trolleybuses and trams have been replaced by regular buses.

In Odesa, two districts were in partial blackout on Sunday morning. By early afternoon, power had been restored.

“A few days ago we had a total blackout, that was major,” Odesa resident Masha told the BBC. “Yesterday there were no traffic lights in the city centre and limited streetlights, to save power.”

On Sunday, she said, there were people out and about in town as usual. Officials say consumption restrictions have now been lifted all over the country.

When I asked Kharkiv salon owner Natalia whether she was worried by the latest attacks, she quoted her city’s reputation.

“We are invincible,” she joked.

She then wished us a “quiet night,” meaning one with without explosions.

In Kharkiv, nowadays, that is increasingly rare.

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Putin signs decree calling up 150,000 Russian conscripts

The annual spring decree calling up around 150,000 conscripts to the Russian military signed by President Vladimir Putin was published in Moscow on Sunday in line with longstanding practice.

The conscripts are called up every year on April 1 to serve for 12 months. A similar call-up occurs in the autumn. The Defence Ministry earlier issued the assurance that they would not be sent to the front in Ukraine.

According to the decree, 150,000 conscripts aged between 18 and 30 are to be called up by July 15.

The Defence Ministry simultaneously published the document releasing from service those who have completed their basic training. These trained troops can volunteer for service on the Ukrainian front, and are seen as coming under pressure to sign the relevant contract.

Russian forces have incurred large losses since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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Russian veto halts UN monitoring of North Korea nuclear sanctions

Russia this week vetoed the annual renewal of a panel of experts tasked with monitoring the enforcement of U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Thirteen U.N. Security Council members voted in favor of extending the panel’s mandate for an additional year, while China abstained.

North Korea has been under sanctions for its ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006 and the vote does not affect the sanctions themselves.

The panel, made up of independent experts, has been conducting oversight for 15 years, reporting twice a year to the Security Council. Experts also provide recommendations on how to better implement measures.

Russia’s veto came amid allegations that North Korea has transferred weapons to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine. Both Russia and North Korea have denied the claims.

South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Joonkook Hwang slammed the outcome of the vote.

“This is outrageous and makes no sense at all, given the continued and accelerated advancement of the North Korean nuclear and missile programs,” he said. “Pyongyang has been openly denouncing the authority of the Security Council and pursuing an increasingly dangerous and aggressive nuclear policy, in particular targeting the Republic of Korea.”

The panel’s current mandate expires on April 30. Their recent report, released this March, looked at alleged cyberattacks by North Korea to further bolster its nuclear weapons program.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia was not sold on the panel’s independence.

“Its work is increasingly being reduced to playing into the hands of Western approaches, reprinting biased information and analyzing newspaper headlines and poor quality photos,” Nebenzia said to the Security Council before the vote on Thursday, according to Reuters.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

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Jailed U.S. reporter’s family speak after a year in Russian prison

Even as a child, Evan Gershkovich seemed destined to be a reporter. He was always curious, liked a good story, and was deeply interested in Russia, the country his parents had emigrated from.

He was there, as Russia instituted the biggest crackdown on the free press in decades — one that would ensnare him, left awaiting trial on espionage charges that many in the West decry as punishment for doing his job. NBC News spoke to his family and some of his closest friends as his detention reached a year on Friday.

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested last March while reporting for The Wall Street Journal in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains. The Kremlin said he was caught “red-handed” receiving “secret information,” but to this day, Russia has not provided evidence to support the accusation. Gershkovich and the Journal deny all charges against him.

He is being kept in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, known for its harsh conditions. His multiple appeals have been rejected in court, and his latest appearance this week saw his pre-trial detention extended again, until at least June 30. The Kremlin said Thursday it does not have information about when his trial could begin.

Gershkovich often smiles and appears in good spirits during his court appearances, but a year in custody, without much in the way of a promising resolution, is weighing heavily on his family and friends.

“It has been hard,” his father, Mikhail, told NBC News. “He spent all four seasons there, he spent his birthday and all the holidays. We want him home as soon as possible.”

Gershkovich’s parents left the Soviet Union for the U.S. during the Cold War. He and his sister, Danielle, grew up speaking Russian at home, and the family calls him “Vanya,” the diminutive for his Russian name, Ivan.

Gershkovich’s mother, Ella Milman, said his curiosity and interest in Russia drove his decision to move there in 2017 to work as a journalist, an opportunity the family was excited about.

Everything changed when Russia invaded Ukraine, and Gershkovich, like many other foreign journalists wary of new laws criminalizing criticism of the Russian army, relocated abroad, though he regularly went back to Russia to report.

Last March, Milman said she got a call from Evan, saying he needed to finish a story and would go back to London, where he was based, the following week. The next call she received about Evan was from a Journal editor, informing her that Evan had not checked in from his assignment.

Then, the news came out: a foreign reporter was arrested in Russia. “For me, it was a total shock,” Milman said.

“My heart dropped into my stomach,” Evan’s older sister, Danielle, said of the moment she learned of his arrest. She said she is very close to her brother, who has always been the responsible one growing up, but can often be a “goofball.”

They now write each other letters, she said, and he often tells her he is worried about how the family is coping, but also makes her laugh. “He is so strong,” she added. “He has not lost his spirit.”

The Biden administration considers Gershkovich “wrongfully detained” and has been actively trying to get him out. Moscow signaled early on that it may be willing to discuss a potential swap once there is a verdict in place. But in December, the State Department said Russia rejected “a new and significant proposal” to secure his release.

His arrest unnerved international news organizations still operating in Russia. Since his arrest, another American-Russian journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, has also been detained, along with several other U.S. nationals, prompting accusations that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been building a reserve of Americans to swap for Russian nationals jailed abroad.

He hinted in an interview last month that Gershkovich could be swapped for a Russian hitman jailed in Germany, and a deal that sources told NBC News was in the works to free opposition leader Alexei Navalny before his death in prison last month, would have also involved Gershkovich.

But for now, Gershkovich remains behind bars, and his family and friends await any news.

Pjotr Sauer, a friend of Gershkovich and a Russia reporter for The Guardian, said he writes to Evan every week, and nearly every letter is an update on Arsenal — the English team they both support fervently, which is currently enjoying its best period since Evan was a soccer-mad teen in New Jersey. He does a lot of reading and writing in jail, Sauer told NBC News, but is confined to a tiny cell, with just one hour a day to walk around. Still, his sense of humor and optimism come through in his letters, he said.

“It’s giving me a lot of strength to see that he is doing okay, given the conditions he is in,” he added. “He’s not broken, not mentally, not physically.”

Evan Gershkovich escorted from court in Moscow on Jan. 26, 2024. — Gershkovich, after losing an appeal against his arrest.Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

What set Gershkovich apart as a foreign journalist was his deep understanding of Russia and his desire to figure out the ins and outs of what’s happening in the country, said Masha Barzunova, a friend and independent Russian journalist. Vanya, as she calls him, knew the risks, but thought that it was important to continue reporting there.

Journalists and friends celebrated that dedication to his work this week with a 24-hour read-a-thon live streamed from the Wall Street Journal that brought home how deeply reported his stories were, particularly his coverage of the conflicting emotions of Russian draftees fighting in Ukraine, and the views of many different voices of Russians about the war on the home front.

His arrest, which Borzunova said she considers a hostage taking, became one of many watershed moments indicative of changes inside Russia in the last two years. “He is holding up well but it can’t continue this long,” she said.

Since his arrest, Gershkovich’s parents have gone to see him in Russia twice — once in jail and once in court through a glass box, with guards monitoring the visit both times. Otherwise, they communicate with Evan in letters and through his Russian lawyers. They know his friends deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to him in prison, and he keeps in good physical health.

They are grateful for the Biden administration’s support, but say it’s been too long and they are worried about his mental health after a year in custody.

“Evan is not here,” Milman said. “We knew that it was going to be a marathon, but still had hopes that it will be sooner.”

For now, the family is choosing to remain optimistic and put their faith in the U.S. government, she said, because “pessimism will kill all hope.”

Asked what she would say to Putin if she had a chance, Evan’s sister, Danielle, said she would try to relay the “human cost” of his brother’s plight. “We miss him so fiercely,” she said. “We don’t want him to have one more day of his freedom taken from him. And we want him home.”

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Russian veto brings an end to the U.N. panel that monitors North Korea nuclear sanctions

UNITED NATIONS — A veto Thursday by Russia ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it allegedly violates the sanctions to buy weapons from Pyongyang for its war in Ukraine.

Russia’s turnaround on the U.N. monitoring reflects how Moscow’s growing animosity with the United States and its Western allies since the start of the Ukraine war has made it difficult to reach consensus on even issues where there has been longstanding agreement.

The veto came during a vote on a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate of a panel of experts monitoring sanctions on North Korea for a year, but which will now halt its operation when its current mandate expires at the end of April.

The vote in the 15-member council, with 13 in favor, Russia against, and China abstaining, has no impact on the actual sanctions against North Korea, which remain in force.

Russia had never before tried to block the work of the panel of experts, which had been renewed annually by the U.N. Security Council for 14 years and reflected global opposition to North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons program.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council before the vote that Western nations are trying to “strangle” North Korea and that sanctions are losing their “relevance” and are “detached from reality” in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the country.

He accused the panel of experts of “increasingly being reduced to playing into the hands of Western approaches, reprinting biased information and analyzing newspaper headlines and poor quality photos.” Therefore, he said, it is “essentially conceding its inability to come up with sober assessments of the status of the sanctions regime.”

But U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood called the panel’s work essential and accused Russia of attempting to silence its “independent objective investigations” because it “began reporting in the last year on Russia’s blatant violations of the U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

He warned that Russia’s veto will embolden North Korea to continue jeopardizing global security through development “of long-range ballistic missiles and sanctions evasion efforts.”

White House national security spokesman John Kirby condemned Russia’s veto as a “reckless action” that undermines sanctions imposed on North Korea, while warning against the deepening cooperation between North Korea and Russia, particularly as North Korea continues to supply Russia with weapons as it wages its war in Ukraine.

“The international community should resolutely uphold the global nonproliferation regime and support the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence against Russia’s brutal aggression,” Kirby told reporters.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Russia’s veto follows arms deals between Russia and North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions, including “the transfer of ballistic missiles, which Russia has then used in its illegal invasion of Ukraine since the early part of this year.”

“This veto does not demonstrate concern for the North Korean people or the efficacy of sanctions,” she said. “It is about Russia gaining the freedom to evade and breach sanctions in pursuit of weapons to be used against Ukraine.”

“This panel, through its work to expose sanctions non-compliance, was an inconvenience for Russia,” Woodward said.

France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere added that “North Korea has been providing Russia with military material in support of its aggression against Ukraine, in violation of many resolutions which Russia voted in favor of.”

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky responded, calling these “unfounded insinuations” that “only strengthened our conviction that we took the right decision to not support the extension of the panel of experts.”

The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking — so far unsuccessfully — to cut funds and curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The last sanctions resolution was adopted by the council in December 2017. China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

The Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until Thursday.

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Russian network that ‘paid European politicians’ busted, authorities claim

A Russian-backed “propaganda” network has been broken up for spreading anti-Ukraine stories and paying unnamed European politicians, according to authorities in several countries.

Investigators claimed it used the popular Voice of Europe website as a vehicle to pay politicians.

The Czech Republic and Poland said the network aimed to influence European elections.

Voice of Europe did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

Czech media, citing the countries intelligence agency BIS, reported that politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary were paid by Voice of Europe in order to influence upcoming elections for the European Parliament.

The German newspaper, Der Spiegel, said the money was either handed over in cash in covert meetings in Prague or through cryptocurrency exchanges.

Pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is alleged by the Czech Republic to be behind the network.

Mr Medvedchuk was arrested in Ukraine soon after the Russian invasion, but later transferred to Russia with about 50 prisoners of war in exchange for 215 Ukrainians.

Czech authorities also named Artyom Marchevsky, alleging he managed the day-to-day business of the website. Both men were sanctioned by Czech authorities.

Poland’s intelligence agency said it had conducted searches in the Warsaw and Tychy regions and seized €48,500 (£41,500) and $36,000 (£28,500).

“Money from Moscow has been used to pay some political actors who spread Russian propaganda,” BIS said in a statement.

It added that the sums amounted to “millions” of Czech crowns (tens of thousands of pounds).

The alleged propaganda network “aimed to carry out activities against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” BIS said.

BIS did not name the politicians allegedly involved. However, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo alleged they included members of the European Parliament.

“It came for example to light that Russia has approached MEPs, but also paid [them], to promote Russian propaganda here,” Mr De Croo told Belgian MPs.

The Voice of Europe website was offline on Thursday. An archived version of its homepage showed several articles highlighting internal divisions within European countries and expressing scepticism about support for Ukraine.

These included: “Protest in Prague: people’s voice against corruption, military support for Ukraine, and government”, and “Ukraine’s army faces a mounting troop shortage amid ongoing challenges”.

Voice of Europe had more than 180,000 followers on Twitter/X. The publication did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

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Six Russian journalists have been detained by authorities. They include one who covered Navalny

Authorities in Russia have detained six journalists across the country this month, including a journalist who covered the trials of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny for several years, media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders said Thursday.

Antonina Favorskaya was detained and accused by Russian authorities of taking part in an “extremist organization” by posting on the social media platforms of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, the Russian human rights group OVD-Info said. Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony in February.

Favorskaya covered Navalny’s court hearings for years and filmed the last video of Navalny before he died in the penal colony. She is one of several Russian journalists targeted by authorities as part of a sweeping crackdown against dissent in Russia that is aimed at opposition figures, journalists, activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Two other journalists, Alexandra Astakhova and Anastasia Musatova, were also temporarily detained after they came to meet Favorskaya in the detention center where she was being held, Reporters Without Borders said, adding that their homes were searched and equipment seized.

Ekaterina Anikievich, of the Russian news site SOTAvision, and Konstantin Yarov from RusNews, were also detained by police while covering the search of Favorskaya’s home. Yarov was beaten by police, threatened with sexual violence and taken to a hospital, Reporters Without Borders said. Yarov is accused of “disobedience” towards police and risks 15 days of detention, the group said.

In Ufa, 1,300 kilometers (around 800 miles) east of Moscow, Russian authorities detained Olga Komleva, a reporter for RusNews, on Wednesday. They also accused her of extremism and involvement with Navalny and his organization, Reporters Without Borders said.

OVD-Info said that Favorskaya was initially detained on March 17 after laying flowers on Navalny’s grave. She spent 10 days in jail after being accused of disobedience towards the police, but when that period of detention ended, authorities charged her again and ordered her to appear Friday in Moscow’s Basmanny District Court, OVD-Info said.

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation has been designated an extremist organization by Russian authorities, which means that people associated with it potentially face prison sentences if they continue to be involved in its work.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokeswoman, said that Favorskaya didn’t publish anything on the Foundation’s platforms and suggested that Russian authorities targeted her because she was doing her job as a journalist.

“What darkness,” Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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