Wore camera harness

Suspected “spy whale” dies off Norway

Beluga whale "Hvaldimir" with the camera harness in an archive image from 2019

(Bild: AP)

The suspected Russian "spy whale" Hvaldimir is dead. He discovered the beluga whale floating motionless in the sea off the southwest coast of Norway on Saturday, said the head of the environmental protection organization Marine Mind, Sebastian Strand, on Sunday.

A representative of the port authority in Stavanger confirmed the death of the marine mammal to the newspaper "VG". The cause of death is unknown, Strand said. No visible injuries were found during an initial examination. The carcass of the whale had been recovered and a post-mortem examination would now provide clarity.

The whale was first spotted in Norway in 2019. The Norwegians named it "Hvaldimir" - "Hval" means "whale" in Norwegian, the suffix "dimir" is an allusion to its suspected connection to Russia.

Did the marine mammal escape from captivity?
At the time, the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate speculated that it had escaped from captivity and been trained by the Russian navy. Biologists succeeded in removing a harness for attaching a camera from the beluga whale. However, the purpose and origin of the equipment remains unclear to this day. Moscow has never officially commented on the speculation.

Both the Soviet Union and the USA used dolphins during the Cold War. The marine mammals were trained to detect submarines and mines and to recognize suspicious objects or people in the vicinity of ports and ships.