A celebrity ‘Russian spy’ whale spotted with harness found dead in Norwegian waters
Russian 'spy whale' Hvaldimir found dead near Norway
A white beluga whale named “Hvaldimir,” first spotted in Norway not far from Russian waters with a harness that ignited rumors he may be a Moscow spy, has been found dead.
The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that the whale carcass was found floating at the Risavika Bay in southern Norway Saturday by a father and son who were fishing.
The beluga, named by combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and Russian President Putin’s first name Vladimir, was lifted out of the water with a crane and taken to a nearby harbor where experts will examine it.
The whale was first spotted in Norwegian waters five years ago with a GoPro camera attached to a harness that read "Equipment of St Petersburg".
This sparked rumours the mammal could be a spy whale - something experts say happened in the past. Moscow never responded to the allegations.
Hvaldimir's lifeless body was discovered at the weekend by Marine Mind, an organisation that has tracked his movements for years.
Marine Mind founder Sebastian Strand told AFP news agency that the cause of death was unknown and that Hvaldimir's body had no obvious injuries.
"We've managed to retrieve his remains and put him in a cooled area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute," he told AFP news agency.
With an estimated age of about 15, Hvaldimir was not old for a Beluga whale, whose lifespan can reach 60 years.
He first approached Norwegian boats in April 2019 near the island of Ingoya, about 415km (260 miles) from Murmansk where Russia's Northern Fleet is based.
The sighting attracted attention because belugas are rarely seen this far south of the high Arctic.
The discovery led to an investigation by Norway's domestic intelligence agency, which later said that the whale was likely to have been trained by the Russian army as he seemed accustomed to humans.
The whale became known locally as Hvaldimir, a pun on the Norwegian word for whale, "hval", and President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has a history of training marine mammals such as dolphins for military purposes and the Barents Observer website has identified whale pens near naval bases in the north-west area of Murmansk.
Russia has never officially addressed the claim that Hvaldimir may have been trained by the Russian military. It has previously denied the existence of any programmes seeking to train sea mammals as spies.
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