'Russian spy’ whale dies in Norway

Sept. 1, 2024, 4:58 p.m.

Read time estimation: 3 minutes.

  1

A Beluga whale, whose unusual harness fueled suspicions of being trained by Russia for espionage, has been discovered dead in Norway. This discovery was made by an NGO that has monitored his movements.

Nicknamed “Hvaldimir” in a pun on the Norwegian word for whale, hval, and its purported ties to Moscow, the beluga first appeared off the coast in Norway’s far-northern Finnmark region in 2019.

At the time, Norwegian marine biologists removed an attached man-made harness with a mount suited for an action camera and the words “Equipment St. Petersburg” printed on the plastic clasps.

Norwegian officials have stated that Hvaldimir may have escaped a containment area and might have undergone training by the Russian navy as he exhibited a familiarity with humans.

Advertisement Moscow has never issued any official reaction to speculation that he could be a “Russian spy”.

On Saturday, the beluga’s lifeless body was discovered off the southwest coast at Risavika by Marine Mind, an organisation that has tracked his movements for years.

“I found Hvaldi dead when I was scouting for him yesterday like usual,” Marine Mind’s founder Sebastian Strand told AFP.

“We had confirmation of him being alive little more than 24 hours before finding him floating motionlessly,” he added.

Fredrik Skarbovik, maritime coordinator at the port of Stavanger, confirmed the beluga’s death to the VG tabloid newspaper.

Strand said the cause of the whale’s demise was unknown and no visible injuries were found during an initial inspection of Hvaldimir’s body.

“We’ve managed to retrieve his remains and put him in a cooled area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute that can help determine what really happened to him,” Strand added.

Estimated to be around 14 or 15 years old, Hvaldimir was relatively young for a Beluga whale, which can live for 40 to 60 years.

Beluga whales can grow up to six meters (20 feet) in length and typically reside in the frigid waters around Greenland, northern Norway and Russia.

These areas include the Barents Sea, a strategically important region where the movements of Western and Russian submarines are tracked.

It also serves as the entrance to the Northern Route, which shortens the sea routes between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Advertisement