Vienna, July 19 (UNI/Sputnik): The Austrian and US authorities have launched a joint investigation into the Havana syndrome-like symptoms experienced by American diplomats and intelligence staff in Vienna, the Austrian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Monday.
A total of over 20 US embassy staffers in Vienna have reported symptoms similar to those of so-called Havana syndrome.
“We take these messages very seriously and work on investigation jointly with the US authorities in accordance with our role of a hosting state. The safety of diplomats and their families sent to Austria is our main priority,” the foreign ministry official said.
Last week, the US State Department said that all reports on the diplomats experiencing the symptoms of the mystery disease were being taken seriously, and an active investigation had been launched. At the moment, there is no evidence of any foreign involvement.
US diplomats in Cuba suffered from the ‘Havana syndrome’ in 2016 and 2017. Similar medical symptoms were reported among US diplomatic staffers in China in 2018. Though Washington assumed the diplomats could have been exposed to some unidentified acoustic attack, it did not reach a definite conclusion on what exactly caused the syndrome. Similar accusations against Russia emerge in American media outlets from time to time, with Moscow.
